Germany Awards 326 Projects in 2.2 GW Solar Tender

Germany’s Federal Network Agency on Tuesday announced the winners of its latest significantly oversubscribed solar auction, awarding a total capacity of 2,234 MW to 326 successful bids as prices witnessed further decrease.

The auction, which ended on March 1, targeted projects for ground-mounted solar photovoltaic (PV) installations and solar installations on structural systems that are neither a building nor a noise barrier.

The agency received a total of 569 bids with a combined capacity of 4,100 MW. Some 39 bids were disqualified due to formal errors.

The previous auction in this category awarded 1.6 GW to 124 projects at the beginning of the year.

The average volume-weighted award price in the latest round was EUR 0.0511 (USD 0.055) per kWh, down from EUR 0.0517/kWh in the previous tender. Overall, the prices ranged between EUR 0.0362/kWh and EUR 0.0549/kWh.

Yet again, the highest awarded volume went to the federal state of Bavaria with 156 awards for a combined capacity of 806 MW. Some 221 MW were distributed among 17 winning bids in Schleswig-Holstein, while 199 MW from 20 winning bids went to Lower Saxony.

Out of all bids, 141 awards concerned 1,058 MW of projects for solar installations alongside motorways and railway lines. The second-largest category was for projects in disadvantaged areas -- 127 bids for a total of 792 MW.