Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/1176 of 23 May 2025 specifying the pre-qualification and award criteria for auctions for the deployment of energy from renewable sources

THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION,

Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,

Having regard to Regulation (EU) 2024/1735 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 June 2024 on establishing a framework of measures for strengthening Europe’s net-zero technology manufacturing ecosystem and amending Regulation (EU) 2018/1724 (1), and in particular Article 26(3) thereof,

Whereas:

(1) Regulation (EU) 2024/1735 lays down measures to scale up the Union’s manufacturing capacity for net-zero technologies and their key components. Those measures should increase the competitiveness of the net-zero technology sector, attract investments, and improve market access for clean technologies in the Union. Among those rules, Article 26 of Regulation (EU) 2024/1735 supports the aim of developing and maintaining an industrial basis for the deployment of renewable energy technologies to secure the Union’s energy supply and avoid dependencies for the supply of these technologies. To this end, it requires Member States to apply certain non-price criteria to at least 30 % of the volume auctioned per year per Member State or alternatively to at least 6 Gigawatt per year per Member State for the deployment of energy from the renewable sources using the renewable energy technologies listed in Article 4(1), points (a) to (j) of that Regulation (2). Article 26 of Regulation (EU) 2024/1735 introduces the requirement to apply certain non-price criteria as pre-qualification criteria, while for other criteria Member States enjoy flexibility to decide in their auction design whether to apply them as pre-qualification or award criteria or as a combination of both type of criteria. Moreover, in accordance with Article 26(2), last subparagraph of Regulation (EU) 2024/1735, Member States are not precluded from using additional non-price criteria beyond those listed in Article 26(2).

(2) The rules specifying the pre-qualification or award criteria that should be included in auctions to deploy energy from certain renewable sources aim to facilitate the design and application of the criteria laid down in Article 26 of Regulation (EU) 2024/1735 and ensure uniformity across the Union, while providing sufficient flexibility to Member States. Harmonised implementation of the criteria should reduce transaction costs for economic operators and Member States and avoid fragmentation of the internal market in accordance with the principle of Union added value. This should be done while allowing for sufficient flexibility for Member States to adapt their application of the pre-qualification or award criteria to the structure and planning of their respective auction systems, their specific characteristics and other considerations linked to the other public policy objectives, in line with the principle of subsidiarity. The application of these criteria in renewable energy auctions should not undermine the core objectives of the auction in terms of rapid, efficient and sustainable renewable energy deployment and should ensure a competitive bidding process and legal certainty. This Regulation specifies the pre-qualification or award criteria that should be included in auctions to deploy energy from certain renewable source to ensure that these criteria are designed and applied in an objective, transparent and non-discriminatory manner without leading to a disproportionate increase in costs.

(3) The criterion related to responsible business conduct should ensure that activities carried out by companies are aligned with the needs of society and nature. Building on the relevant international standards framework, such as the United Nations’ Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights: Implementing the United Nations ‘Protect, Respect and Remedy’ Framework, the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises on Responsible Business Conduct, the OECD Due Diligence Guidance for Responsible Business Conduct, the ILO Tripartite Declaration of Principles concerning Multinational Enterprises and Social Policy (MNE Declaration) and relevant Union legislation on corporate sustainability due diligence (3), in particular Directive (EU) 2024/1760 of the European Parliament and of the Council (4) as well as Directive (EU) 2022/2464 of the European Parliament and of the Council (5) and Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2023/2772 (6), the introduction of a pre-qualification criterion on responsible business conduct in renewable energy auctions should go beyond the due diligence requirements in existing Union law by requiring to take action addressing the core elements of due diligence with regard to the general bidder’s business activities related to the auction. Bidders should also be required to publicly communicate on the actions taken to do so. To avoid putting an excessive bureaucratic burden, natural persons, companies that are not in the scope of Directive 2013/34/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council (7) as defined in its Articles 19a and 29a and their subsequent modifications and renewable energy communities should not be required to comply with this additional obligation and are subject to lighter requirements, while being entirely exempted from the application of the responsible business conduct criterion for projects with capacity below 10 MW. However, Member States should maintain the possibility to extend to natural persons, companies that are not in the scope of Directive 2013/34/EU as defined in its Articles 19a and 29a and their subsequent modifications and renewable energy communities the obligation to take action to address the core elements of due diligence for projects with capacity above 10 MW. The assessment of compliance with the responsible business conduct criterion should be based on the core elements of due diligence, as laid down in Annex I to Delegated Regulation (EU) 2023/2772 (8).

(4) Ensuring a high level of cybersecurity and data security in energy generation installations is crucial for maintaining security of energy supply and critical energy infrastructure. Cybersecurity risks in the energy sector may adversely affect the confidentiality of information processed in the construction and operation of renewable energy installations and may impact the ability of the operator to retain operational control of the installation. Renewable energy installations face a large set of potential cybersecurity risks linked to the supply chain, such as severe and unexpected corruption of the supply chain, the unavailability of information and communication technology (ICT) products, services or processes in the supply chain or cyberattacks initiated by actors in the supply chain, including by highly sophisticated and persistent malicious state and criminal actors.

(5) To ensure that all bidders duly address cybersecurity and data security risks, auctions for the deployment of energy from renewable sources should include pre-qualification criteria requiring them to implement cybersecurity risk management measures, reflect them in a cybersecurity plan and ensure those measures are applicable to ICT products or services provided by their suppliers. The storage and processing of data related to the operation of renewable energy installations in jurisdictions outside the European Economic Area can generate threats to the security of the installations and to the overall system. An extra level of data protection is necessary to ensure the security of the installation and of the overall system in cases when the bidder is subject to the jurisdiction of a third country requiring the bidder to report information on software or hardware vulnerabilities to authorities of that third country prior to those vulnerabilities being known to have been exploited. An extra level of data protection is also necessary where, according to a public statement either on behalf of the Union under the framework for a joint EU diplomatic response to malicious cyber activities (9) or on behalf of one or several of its Member States, threat actors operating out of the territory of that third country have carried out malicious cyber activities or campaigns. To that end, Member States should in particular take into account targeted restrictive measures imposed by the Union to deter and respond to cyberattacks which constitute an external threat to the Union or its Member States (10). Public statements on behalf of a Member State are particularly relevant for auctions carried out by that Member State. In such cases bidders should provide a substantiated cybersecurity plan outlining the technical, operational and organisational measures to ensure that data used for or generated in their business activities related to the auction are stored and processed in the European Economic Area (EEA) and not transferred outside the EEA. It is important that an operator established in the EEA maintains operational control of the installation to ensure appropriate oversight and enforcement of EU law with a view to guaranteeing the security of the installation and of the overall system.

(6) The inclusion of criteria to ensure the bidder’s ability to deliver the project are key to ensuring that bidders and their bids are credible, have the necessary technical knowledge, experience and financial and economic capability, and have a realistic business and technical plan to complete the project fully and on time, respecting the different specifications and non-price criteria requirements included in the auction. It is thus appropriate to require bidders to provide specific documentation and evidence. When designing such criteria, Member States should also take into account the project costs, its risks, the project capacity, the maturity of the technology, the degree of innovation required by the auction and other relevant market conditions. This is particularly relevant as imposing excessive requirements, for instance, for smaller projects may limit artificially competition and exclude smaller players that would otherwise be able to participate in the auction. Furthermore, imposing excessive requirements may limit participation in the auction by new entrants. Instead, for larger projects, which involve higher risks, it may be necessary to impose stricter conditions to ensure that the projects can be delivered fully and on time, while still guaranteeing a competitive bidding process.

(7) In accordance with Article 26(1) of Regulation (EU) 2024/1735 Member States must include pre-qualification criteria or award criteria to assess the auction’s sustainability and resilience contribution. Article 25 of Regulation (EU) 2024/1735 requires contracting authorities and contracting entities to apply in certain public procurement procedures minimum mandatory requirements regarding environmental sustainability and certain mandatory requirements to assess the tender’s resilience contribution. Both public procurement procedures and auctions for deploying renewable energy sources contribute to the Union's resilience. Public undertakings operating in the energy sector that are contracting entities in accordance with Article 4 of Directive 2014/25/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council (11) are subject to Article 25 of Regulation (EU) 2024/1735 when procuring net-zero technologies listed in Article 4(1), points (a) to (k), of Regulation (EU) 2024/1735. At the same time, they may also participate as bidders in renewable energy auctions subject to Article 26 of Regulation (EU) 2024/1735. Recital 81 of Regulation (EU) 2024/1735 recalls the importance of ensuring that the sustainability and resilience requirements are applied in a way that ensures fair and equal competition among market players regardless of their ownership structure. In order to ensure such fair and equal competition, for the purposes of assessing resilience and environmental sustainability requirements, public undertakings participating in renewable energy auctions pursuant to Article 26 should be subject only to the rules laid down in Article 26. The rules set out in Article 25 should apply to the procurement of the net-zero technologies, except where such procurement is used to carry out projects awarded in the context of renewable energy auctions subject to Article 26 (12).

(8) The specific choice of type of criteria to assess the auction’s sustainability and resilience contribution (pre-qualification or award criteria) falls within the remit of the relevant authorities designing the specific auction. However, the relevant authorities should ensure that the choice of type of criteria does not undermine the competitive nature of the bidding process and does not unduly slow down the deployment of renewable energy technologies.

(9) The assessment of the auctions’ contribution to resilience should aim to ensure Union access to a secure and sustainable energy supply by (i) reducing current dependencies and avoiding new strategic dependencies on single third countries for the supply of net-zero renewable energy technologies and their main specific components; and (ii) enhancing the Union’s manufacturing capacity of these technologies and components. This should be done without jeopardising the achievement of the binding Union target on renewable energy for 2030 laid down in Article 3(1) of Directive (EU) 2018/2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council (13). When deciding whether to apply resilience as a pre-qualification or award criterion to net-zero technologies or their main specific components, the relevant authorities should take into account the Union’s level of dependency on a third country for that net-zero technology or its main specific component, the availability of alternative sources of supply and the impact that applying resilience as a pre-qualification criterion instead of an award criterion could have on the supply of that main specific component. In cases where resilience is used as an award criterion in auctions, the relevant authorities should aim to increase the diversification of the Union’s supply away from a country on which the Union is excessively dependent by awarding a higher number of points to bidders that ensure higher diversification of their sources of supply compared to bidders meeting the minimum resilience requirements.

(10) To address dependencies of the Union on a single third country supplying more than 50 % of a specific net-zero technology or its components or at least 40 % in certain circumstances, and to promote supply diversification, Member States’ relevant authorities should limit participation to relevant auctions or award points based on requirements linked to the origin of the final product and a certain number of main specific components laid down in Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/1178 (14) that originate in a third country on which the Union is excessively dependent. Furthermore, it is appropriate to limit the origin of certain key strategic components given their technology value and their central role in security of energy supply and in the supply chain of specific net-zero technologies, but for other main specific components bidders should retain flexibility in choosing which components they intend to source from the third country on which the Union is excessively dependent within the limits set in this Regulation. These requirements provide for a practical and objectively verifiable methodology to assess the resilience of net-zero technologies and their main specific components that are part of an auction. It is appropriate to set the specific requirements for the different technologies and their main specific components taking into account their specific circumstances and characteristics, such as the availability of alternative sources of supply, sufficient manufacturing capacity globally, the level of maturity and deployment rate of the technology, the impact of diversification on supply chains and overall costs. In the case of PV technologies final products (solar photovoltaic systems) and PV modules, non-preferential rules of origin laid down in Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2015/2446 (15) provide that the assembly of PV cells (HS 8541 42 ), which are classified in the same tariff heading as PV modules (HS 8541 43 ), or equivalent components into PV modules would not change the origin of the module. For this reason, it is appropriate to refer to the assembly of the solar photovoltaic system and of the PV module, rather than to their origin, as a reference for the contribution to resilience of those specific manufacturing steps.

(11) For certain main specific components the level of dependency on a single third country may be so high that a strict application of the resilience criterion would endanger the security of supply of that component. In such cases it is appropriate that the relevant authorities retain some flexibility to increase the threshold of main specific components which may originate from that third country on which there is excessive dependency.

(12) When carrying out the assessment required in Article 26(8) of Regulation (EU) 2024/1735 on the resilience and sustainability criteria for auctions for the deployment of energy from renewable sources and their effect on the accelerated deployment of renewable energy technologies, the Commission should duly consider the effectiveness of the resilience criterion and whether such effectiveness is undermined by practices aiming at altering the origin or place of assembling of net-zero technologies final products or main specific components.

(13) Member States’ relevant authorities should also assess the resilience contribution of auctions for onshore wind technologies, offshore wind technologies and electrolysers, even in the absence of a single third country supplying more than 50 % of these technologies or their components or at least 40 % in certain circumstances, given that for these technologies there is a significant risk of increased dependency on imports from the People’s Republic of China, which may threaten the Union’s security of supply. This is so given the current and projected global and the Union’s supply and demand trends for these technologies, and the fact that the People’s Republic of China’s production capacity exceeds 50 % of global production (16) and its projected production significantly exceeds its domestic targets and foreseeable demand.

(14) Article 26(2) of Regulation (EU) 2024/1735 indicates that the auction’s sustainability contribution can be assessed by introducing criteria related to environmental sustainability going beyond the minimum requirements in applicable law, innovation or energy system integration.