The German Federal Network Agency (Bundesnetzagentur or BNetzA) will cut subsidies for onshore wind turbines by 2.4% starting from 1 April 2018 as per the EEG 2017. It estimates that the newly onshore wind added capacity (5,516 MW between November 2016 and October 2017) is well above the planned capacity expansion path and therefore plans a slight reduction of the subsidies. The BNetzA adjusts the funding rates for onshore wind power on a quarterly basis and in September 2017, it already announced a 2.4% cut starting from 1 January 2018.
Germany is shifting from a subsidy-based system to an auction-based one. Since the beginning of 2017, solar and wind power projects over 750 kW now have to compete in tenders in order to secure power purchase deals, as feed-in tariff (FiT) contracts are no longer available. However, projects that were approved in 2016 are still eligible.