The German Federal Network Agency (Bundesnetzagentur) has released the results of the first tender for the early closure of hard coal-fired power plants under the Coal Power Generation Ending Act. The auction for 4 GW of coal-fired capacity was oversubscribed and accepted 11 bids totalling 4.8 GW, with price ranging from €6,047/MW to €150,000/MW (volume-weighted average of €66,259/MW), below the maximum price of €165,000/MW. The total amount of the bids averages €317m. The 11 plants that have been awarded contracts for a complete phase-out include Heyden (875 MW, Uniper), Moorburg A &B (2x800 MW, Vattenfall), Ibbenbüren (794 MW, RWE Generation) and Westfalen E (764 MW, RWE Generation).
Winners will take their power plants out of the wholesale power market as of 1 January 2021 and production will be cut by July 2021. If transmission system operators object on network security grounds, the power plants may have to be moved into a reserve scheme instead of being shut. The next tendering round is scheduled for 4 January 2021 and will allocate 1.5 GW of capacity closures at a maximum price of €155,000/MW (production will be cut by end-2021). Another 6 tender rounds are scheduled until 2027. Capacity retirements will be mandatory from 2031 until the country reaches a complete coal phase-out by 2038.
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