The German federal energy regulator BNetzA (Bundesnetzagentur) has published the results of two separate auctions, one for onshore wind and the other for solar photovoltaic (PV), both with a bidding date set for 1 February 2019. The outcome confirmed the trend observed during the last tenders. Project developers show a growing interest for solar PV at the expense of onshore wind since this is now the third German onshore wind auction in a row that has been undersubscribed. Longer permitting processes appear to be one of the main drivers behind this result.
The wind auction offered a capacity of 700 MW but was under-subscribed as 72 offers with a total capacity of 499 MW were submitted and only 67 bids with a volume of 476 MW were awarded a contract. The value of the submitted bids ranged between €5.24c/kWh and €6.2c/kWh (compared with €5c/kWh and €6.3c/kWh in the previous round), with an average bidding price of €6.11c/kWh (€6.26c/kWh in the previous round).
As for the solar power auction, 175 MW were offered and 80 bids with a total cumulative volume of 465 MW were submitted, which means that the auctions was 2.5 times oversubscribed. The results are very similar to the last auction of October 2018, which was three times oversubscribed. The bidding prices ranged between €4.11/kWh and €5.18/kWh (compared with €3.86c/kWh and €5.15c/kWh in the previous round) and the average price stood at €4.8c/kWh (€4.69c/kWh in the previous round). The BNetzA awarded 24 surcharges for 178 MW of capacity.
The next rounds are currently scheduled for 1 March 2019 for solar projects and 1 May 2019 for onshore wind projects.