German onshore tender undersubscribed again

Germany’s first onshore wind tender of 2020 was undersubscribed and prices inched up from its last auction, dampening hopes of a turnaround for the sector after the country held its first oversubscribed round in more than a year just before Christmas.

by Craig Richard 19 February 2020

Difficulties in permitting at state-level has deterred developers from bidding in previous German tenders (pic credit: BWE)

The country’s federal energy regulator, the Bundesnetzagentur (BNetzA) awarded contracts for 66 projects with a combined capacity of 523MW. It had received 67 bids for 527MW, having initially made 900MW available.

Successful bid prices ranged between €57.60/MWh and €62/MWh, with a weighted average of €61.80/MWh - up from a €57.40-61.80/MWh range and weighted average of €61.10/MWh in the country’s last and only oversubscribed tender of 2019.

After that round, the BNetza and the German wind energy association (BWE) had been cautiously optimistic about a potential turnaround for onshore wind.

The auction regulator has previously acknowledged that difficulties in permitting at state-level has deterred developers from bidding in tenders.

Following the most recent auction, BWE president Hermann Albers called for the government to facilitate quicker licensing procedures and to simpler repowering regulation. He also described December's oversubscribed tender as a "one-off effect".

A package of climate measures approved in October includes plans to accelerate permitting for onshore wind farms by fast-tracking legal action over projects’ noise levels and restricting challenges to permit awards.

Schleswig-Holstein had the most capacity awarded in the first tender of 2020 (14 projects for 103MW), followed by North Rhine-Westphalia (14 projects for 97MW), Brandenburg (six projects for 59MW), Thuringia (11 projects for 56MW) and Lower Saxony (six projects for 56MW), according to the regulator.

Germany is due to tender a further 3.2GW of onshore wind capacity this year, including a 300MW round with a deadline of 1 March, according to Tender Watch, “uåX˜äŠÊ˜·³Ç's auctions database.

A separate but concurrent solar PV tender for 100MW was oversubscribed nearly five times over - 98 bids were made for 493MW. The BNA awarded 18 projects for a combined capacity of 100.5MW. 

Successful bid prices ranged between €35.50 and €52.10/MWh, with a weighted average of €50.10/MWh - down from a €47-62/MWh range and weighted average of €56.90/MWh in Germany’s last round of 2019.