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Record Low €0.0355 Winning Bid in German Auction

Bundesnetzagentur Awards 100.55 MW Under First Solar PV Auction Of 2020 In Germany With Average Winning Bid Coming In At €0.0501/kWh

Anu Bhambhani
  • Germany has awarded a little over 100 MW as solar power capacity under the country's first solar power auction of 2020
  • 18 winning projects will build this capacity across the country, with Bavaria claiming the largest share of 75 MW
  • Lowest and highest winning bids ranged between €0.0355 per kWh to €0.0521 per kWh and the average winning bid came down from last auction to €0.0501 per kWh
  • Simultaneously, undersubscribed wind power auction bids were higher compared to solar PV with an average winning bid of €0.0618 per kWh

Fresh out of a very successful year in terms of annual solar PV installations that added up to 3.94 GW in 2019, Germany completed its first set of technology specific auctions for solar and wind power with Bundesnetzagentur (Federal Network Agency) awarding 100.55 MW to solar PV.

The PV tender offered 100 MW capacity and was oversubscribed with 98 solar projects offering to build a total of 493 MW. Finally, the agency awarded 100.55 MW to 18 winning projects.

Winning bids ranged between a new record low €0.0355 ($0.038) per kWh and €0.0521 ($0.056) per kWh as the highest bids considered, compared to last auction's winning range of €0.0470 per kWh to €0.0620 per kWh. Weighted average winning bid was determined as €0.0501 ($0.054) per kWh which is lower than €0.0568 per kWh achieved in the previous PV tender in December 2019 whose results were announced in January (see Germany Awards 501 MW Under 5th PV Auction Of 2019).

Of the 100.55 MW capacity, 75 MW will be built in Bavaria in the form of 13 projects, thee others in the federal states of Brandenburg, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Rhineland-Palatinate and Schleswig-Holstein. 

Compared to solar, offers for wind power were below expectations. With 900 MW to be awarded, only 67 projects with 527 MW were bid for – and out of this the agency selected 66 projects for 523 MW capacity with the average winning bid at €0.0618 ($0.067) per kWh, going up from €0.0611 ($0.066) per kWh in the previous round.

The agency will be conducting second technology specific tenders for PV and wind power on March 1, 2020.

The list of winning projects and developers can be viewed on the agency's website.