• An innovation tender for renewables has been launched by Bundesnetzagentur
  • It seeks bids from eligible projects for a combined capacity of 650 MW
  • Eligible projects can secure up to €0.03 per kWh as market premium for single projects and a group of projects can lay claim to a maximum of €0.075 per kWh

Germany’s Federal Network Agency (Bundesnetzagentur) has invited bids for 650 MW of renewables capacity under the innovation tender category. It had promised this round back in June 2020, to be held on September 1, 2020 alongside technology specific tenders for onshore wind and solar power capacity (see Over 99 MW PV Awarded In German Tender).

The 650 MW capacity includes 250 MW of those projects that couldn’t be awarded any contracts in 2019. Eligible technologies include onshore wind, solar PV, and biomass. Any other renewable technology project that wants to enter the competition, must be registered with the agency’s market master data before the bid date.

The maximum market premium to be paid for eligible single projects is €0.03 ($0.034) per kWh and for a group of projects is €0.075 ($0.085) per kWh.

Bids can be submitted latest by September 1, 2020. Details of the tender terms and conditions can be viewed on Bundesnetzagentur website.

Originally, the first innovation tender was scheduled to be held in in Sept. 2019, but was cancelled primarily due to coordination issues of German ministries.

The innovation tenders are based on the Energy Collection Act (Energiesammegesetz), which was passed in 2018 to adapt the EEG and the energy related laws, and which which established additional tender volumes for solar and wind energy. Originally, a first 250 MW tender was supposed to be followed by several  further technology-neutral innovation tenders with volumes of 400 and 500 MW in 2020 and 2021. Now, the first innovation tender starts with a capacity of 650 MW.