Spanish utility Endesa has purchased 333GWh of power at the Iberian solar energy auction, which the company claims is equivalent to purchasing 1.2GWp of capacity.

The auction, held on 29 September, was organised and supervised by the Iberian Energy Derivatives Exchange (OMIP), an agency which covers the energy derivatives market of both Spain and Portugal.

In July Endesa announced that it was going to encourage quarterly auctions to be held and supervised by OMIP. In these auctions, Endesa would represent the sole end purchaser of the power up to a maximum of 500GWh.

Forward-type financial contracts have been established based on the SPEL Solar index published by OMIP, which received the approval of the Portuguese financial regulator CMVM, the Portuguese Securities Market Commission on 17 September.

An Endesa statement said: “Until now, the wholesale forward market had not offered the financial risk management tools in a transparent, reliable and competitive environment, required to meet the specific profile of solar production.

“This is therefore the financial market’s first solar energy auction which also enables the creation of a specific index for solar products (SPEL Solar), the first in Europe which will also serve as a reference to analyse the progress and behaviour of this technology in the financial markets.”

The maximum price for the new SPEL Solar index was set at EUR53.5 (US$60)/MWh and the auction ended with closing price of EUR51.94/MWh after three rounds of negotiations.

Javier Alonso Pérez, head of trading at Endesa, said: “The success of this auction confirms the interest of solar producers in the development of financial products that are capable of reducing the volatility of their income.”

The next solar energy auction will be held in December.