​Italy’s first FER-X auction awarded long-term fixed revenue contracts to around 8.6 GW of renewables, almost all of it solar.

FER-X is Italy’s new renewables support scheme, delivered by GSE (Italy’s state energy services operator). Projects awarded under FER-X receive a 20-year two-way contract for difference. The round consisted of separate auctions for onshore wind and solar PV, each with its own volume cap and bid stack.

Solar was heavily oversubscribed, echoing the dynamics seen in Italy’s recent MACSE auction: as developers prioritise getting fixed, bankable revenues. Wind drew far less volume, reflecting its higher cost base and dependence on re-powering.

​FER-X prices reflected competition

Solar cleared at an average of €56.83/MWh, with 7.7 GW awarded out of 8 GW available. Wind awarded just 0.94 GW of a possible 2.5 GW, at a higher average price of €72.85/MWh.

The bid stacks show why. Solar was oversubscribed, with around 9 GW of eligible projects chasing 8 GW of allocation.

Aside from a small pocket of ultra-low bids, most of the awarded volume clustered tightly; developers priced aggressively to secure capacity.

The bid stack for wind tells a different story. With only 1.6 GW bidding into a 2.5 GW window, competitive pressure was weaker and clearing prices settled higher; even the most aggressive wind bids sat above €65/MWh.

Ultimately, clearing prices mirrored competition: deep solar participation compressed bids, while a thinner wind pipeline left less pressure on pricing.

Southern concentration will drive price spreads

Solar was spread across the country with the Sud and Sicily zones being awarded the most volume. Awarded wind capacity was even more concentrated, clearing almost entirely in the south.

These regions are smaller power markets, so new renewable build has an outsized influence on local price formation. In Sicily, the solar volume awarded is equivalent to roughly a quarter of today’s installed generation capacity; a scale that materially affects the daily price profile.

For storage, that concentration creates opportunity as greater renewable penetration increases price spreads. Southern and island zones already exhibit Italy's widest day-ahead spreads; FER-X reinforces that and supports the need for flexibility.

Project size influenced competition

Solar and wind auctions attracted fundamentally different project profiles. Around three quarters of solar projects came in under 10 MW, with the distribution tailing off sharply above that. Wind projects clustered around 20–30 MW, reflecting the greater scale required for wind economics.

Solar’s smaller project sizes spread awarded capacity across more competitors, so no single project or cluster could influence the merit order, keeping bidding tight.

Wind was more concentrated. Larger project sizes meant a smaller group of competing developers, including Edison, which secured over a quarter of awarded wind capacity. That concentration reduced competitive pressure and helped keep clearing prices higher.

Wind relied more on re-powering, while solar was almost entirely new build

Solar awards were almost entirely new build. Wind was different: over half of awarded capacity was re-powering existing sites.

This difference reflects the underlying economics. New-build solar is inexpensive enough to compete directly for contracts, whereas wind remains more capital-intensive. Re-powering offers wind developers a cheaper, lower risk route to contracted capacity.

Signals from Italy’s first FER-X auction

The first FER-X auction shows a solar market willing to compete aggressively for long-term revenue certainty, and a wind sector still shaped by costs, permitting and the relative ease of re-powering. Solar brought depth and tight bidding; wind delivered less volume and leaned more heavily on existing sites.

For storage, the regional concentration of new capacity reinforces an existing trend. More renewables in the south mean deeper midday cannibalisation and steeper evening ramps — conditions that strengthen the case for BESS.

With both FER-X and MACSE channelling new assets into the same zones, flexibility will become increasingly central to how Italy integrates its next wave of renewable build-out.