Germany starts first mixed wind-solar auction

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On Monday, Germany’s Federal Network Agency (Bundesnetzagentur) launched the first mixed round of tenders for large-scale solar and wind turbines on land.

In the round, the German government hopes to assign around 200 MW of combined wind and solar power. Bids can be submitted until April 3. The ceiling price for both technologies was set at €0.0884/kWh, according to the agency.

It is the first time that two renewable technologies will directly compete in tenders in Germany. The technology-neutral auctions are being implemented upon request of the European Commission, which is requiring member states to introduce them.

While there will be no size restrictions for wind farms on land, there will be a limit of 10 MW for ground-mounted PV systems. Bids for PV projects up to 20 MW could also be made in certain districts affected by the structural changes in coal electricity generation, the Federal Network Agency said. Bids can be made in both technologies for power projects over 750 kW.

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Although submitted projects will not have to include costs for grid expansion, solar developers will have to take into account additional costs for grid integration that will range, according to the agency, between €0.08 and €0.88 per kWh depending on the project’s location, while for wind the additional cost will be between €0.07 and €0.58 per kWh.

The following tender of the same kind has been scheduled for November 1, 2018.

The results of the first PV tender of the year – which had the deadline of February 1 – have not yet been published by the Federal Network Agency. These should be “set in the near future,” a spokesman for the authority told pv magazine last Friday.

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