“uåX˜äŠÊ˜·³Ç

The country’s energy regulator, the Bundesnetzagentur (BNetzA), awarded contracts for 61 wind farms totalling 463.9MW. It had received 62 bids for 467.5MW, having initially made 825MW available.

Successful bid prices ranged between €59/MWh and €62/MWh, with a weighted average of €61.40/MWh. The range narrowed from €57.60-€62/MWh, while the weighted average fell very slightly from €61.80/MWh in the country’s last wind-only tender.

One bid was excluded due to a formal error, the BNA said.

The auction regulator had previously acknowledged that state-level permitting difficulties was deterring developers from entering tenders. 

Germany approved a package of climate measures in October, including plans to accelerate permitting by fast-tracking legal challenges over projects’ noise levels and restricting challenges to permit awards. It also gave states the final say on setback distances, making more sites available.

The regulator has not published the results of the latest round online, and will not do so until the coronavirus pandemic has receded. This is because publication of the results triggers the clock for completion of these projects, and BNetzA believes the pandemic may hinder project construction.

However, the agency added that Schleswig-Holstein received the most capacity awarded in the latest tender (21 bids for 128.74MW), ahead of North Rhine-Westphalia (16 bids, 96.85MW). The two states — in the north and west of Germany, respectively — also received the most bids in the February auction.

Three so-called citizens projects were successful, the BNA added. 

Community-owned projects dominated earlier auction rounds, until the BNetzA scrapped rules deemed advantageous to citizens’ projects, particularly allowing them to enter tenders without having secured permitting approvals

Germany is due to tender a further 2.9GW of onshore wind capacity this year, according to Tender Watch, “uåX˜äŠÊ˜·³Ç’s auction database.

Solar competition

A separate, but concurrent solar PV tender for 96.3MW was oversubscribed nearly four times - 101 bids for 447.2MW. The regulator awarded 21 projects for a combined capacity of 99.5MW.

Successful bid prices ranged between €49/MWh and €54/MWh, with a weighted average of €52.70/MWh — up from a €35.50-52.10/MWh range and €50.10/MWh weighted average in the February round.

Solar PV developers were awarded all the capacity on offer in a technology-neutral tender in May, with no wind developers submitting bids.