The September 1, 2023 innovation auction in Germany was oversubscribed with bids coming in only for solar and storage projects, while none were offered for wind energy. Bavaria alone secured 258 MW out of the 408 MW awarded in this round.
The oversubscribed auction attracted 53 bids representing 779 MW combined capacity, against 400 MW volume offered. The Bundesnetzagentur or the Federal Network Agency picked 32 bids to award 408 MW.
Of the winning capacity, 175 MW will be installed on 500-meter strips of motorways and railways, after the space restriction for state support under the Renewable Energy Sources Act (EEG) was expanded from 200 meters to 500 meters earlier this year.
According to the agency, the average weighted winning bid went up from the previous round to €0.0833/kWh, while the lowest and the highest winning bids were determined as €0.0776/kWh and €0.0878/kWh, respectively.
Bids for this round were capped at €0.0918/kWh. The previous innovation auction round in June 2023 saw only 84 MW solar and storage capacity awarded out of 400 MW on offer. Back then, the agency did not reveal the winning bids stating that it would reveal trade and business secrets of the bidder (see Disappointing German Auction Results).
"Following two weak auctions, the innovation auctions have regained momentum. The fact that this auction was nearly twice oversubscribed shows what kind of a dynamic renewables can have," said Bundesnetzagentur President Klaus Müller. "The aim now is to maintain the current level of project development."
With this, Bundesnetzagentur has exhausted the 800 MW quota for innovation auctions in 2023. It will now hold the next innovation auction on May 1, 2024.
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