Germany’s 4th Rooftop Solar Auction Undersubscribed

• Bundesnetzagentur's 4^th rooftop solar auction on August 1, 2022 was undersubscribed due to 'high tender volume'
• As against 767 MW offered, bids came in for only 214 MW and the agency finally auctioned 201 MW capacity
• 52 MW was awarded to projects in North Rhine-Westphalia, 35 MW in Saxony-Anhalt and 22 MW in Brandenburg

Germany's Bundesnetzagentur or Federal Network Agency has blamed a high tender volume of 767 MW for undersubscription of its tender for rooftop solar and solar for noise barriers. Only 214 MW was bid for with it auctioning only 201 MW capacity.

Held on August 1, 2022, the tender received 115 bids and the agency approved 106 out of the same. At 214 MW, the bid volume submitted was roughly the same as in the previous round with 212 MW, it explained.

Lowest and highest bids were determined as €0.0820 and €0.0891 per kWh ($0.082 and $0.089). Bids for this round were capped at €0.0891 per kWh. Bids submitted went up compared to the previous round with weighted average bid coming in at €0.0884 ($0.088) per kWh, compared to €0.0853 per kWh in the previous round (see Germany's 3^rd Rooftop PV Auction Results).

Most of the winning bids were for North Rhine-Westphalia with 52 MW, followed by 35 MW in Saxony-Anhalt and 22 MW for Brandenburg. Details of the winning projects is available on the agency's website.

Next tender round for this segment of rooftop solar and solar for noise barriers is now scheduled for December 1, 2022. The auction volume is 202.292 MW which 'corresponds to the average of the bid volume of the permitted bids of the 2 auctions of 2022 on April 1 and August 1'.

The Federal Network Agency, however, added that the European Commission has not yet approved the quantities for this round of tenders under state aid law.

This happens to be the 2^nd consecutive solar auction that saw undersubscription in Germany after the one in June 2022 for which the agency attributed increase in tender volume to 3.6 GW in 2022 along with supply chain and unpredictable prices as reasons given by Bundesnetzagentur (see Germany's 1.125 GW PV Auction Undersubscribed).

However, in regard to this rooftop tender the reasons are partly different than those mentioned by the Bundesnetzagentur – the fairly new rooftop tenders have never been very popular, and now it is getting even less attractive after the EEG 2023 has been passed (see Germany's Bundestag Clears Easter Package). Solar system operators of systems larger than 300 kW that opt for feed-in rather than tenders now can get 80% up from 50% earlier, with limits being abolished completely as of next year. As of 2023, all PV rooftop systems between 40 kW and 1 MW can opt for self-consumption/feed-in premium model or full feed-in tariffs.