Germany’s auction for large-scale solar concludes with average price of €0.0566/kWh

The German grid regulator Bundesnetzagentur has reported that 32 project proposals with a combined capacity of 201 MW were selected in the latest auction for PV projects ranging in size from 750 kW to 10 MW. The highest bid was €0.059/kWh, while the average final price was €0.056/kWh. This represents a decline of €0.0092/kWh compared to the average final price of the previous auction. A similar drop was never registered in the previous auctions and this is a clear sign that the extension of the auction to projects located on agricultural land has increased competition, said the vice-president of the Bundesnetzagentur Peter Franke.

In the June auction, PV projects on agricultural land in Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg were accepted for the first time. The states of Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg, which are the only regions that give permission to build PV plants in disadvantaged areas to date, are benefiting from new provisions introduced with Germany’s new renewable energy law (EEG 2017), which came into force at the beginning of this year and enable local governments to allow such projects. In latest auction, in fact, 19 selected projects totaling 124 MW were for projects on agricultural land or grassland areas in disadvantaged regions, of which 18 will be located in Bavaria.

The auction was fully oversubscribed. Overall, the Bundesnetzagentur received 133 proposals with a combined capacity of 646 MW.