Germany planning second auction for wind and solar projects

Germany planning second auction for wind and solar projects

After a first successful auction for solar and wind projects held in spring, Germany is now looking forward to a second event. Prices are expected to increase while the overall allocated capacity will drop slightly.

Earlier this year, Germany held an auction for wind and solar projects, which ended in early April. Solar won all bids and secured new capacities of 210 MW. In order to follow up on this successful event, a second auction has now been planned, for which bids can be placed until 2nd November 2018. It is organised by the Bundesnetzagentur (Germany’s Federal Network Agency) and will assign new capacity to large-scale onshore wind solar power projects.

 

Prices will depend on concentration of renewable energy plants in area

Following the scheme of the first auction, the prices for the bids will depend upon the concentration of other renewable energy projects in the area. According to the Bundesnetzagentur, this is necessary in order to finance the network and system integration for renewables. However, any projects in these areas that are selected will ultimately receive the original offered tariff without having to cover the additional amount.

Those regions with a high density of solar projects are facing a price increase of EUR 0.08/kWh to EUR 0.88/kWh, reducing their chances of a successful bid. The same applies for onshore wind power projects, which will see a bid price increase of EUR 0.07/kWh to EUR 0.58/kWh in case they are located in any such regions. The Bundesnetzagentur has determined 98 such areas throughout the country. In any case, the ceiling price for both technologies was set at EUR 0.875/kWh.

 

Prices could be higher than in spring

The first auction of this kind, concluded in April 2018, resulted in prices of EUR 0.0396/kWh to EUR 0.0576/kWh. Back then, 32 projects of 210 MW were allocated by the Bundesnetzagentur, reaching an average bid of EUR 0.0467/kWh. This time around, only 200 MW of new capacity are being awarded.