Prices at the latest German auction for ground-based solar arrays were on a downwards trend again as great demand led to a heavy oversubscription of the tender, with most winning bids going to projects on farmlands or adjacent to motorways and rail tracks.
“Once more, the amount of bids received significantly exceeded the volume on offer. Never before have as many bids been received as in this round,” said Klaus Müller, president of the federal grids agency (BNetzA).
“The vivid participation promotes competition. Projects must now be implemented as quickly as possible in order to achieve the desired expansion targets."
The successful auction results were published after the cabinet of German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Wednesday had approved a solar package to with the aim of boosting annual PV additions to 22GW per year by 2026 and reaching a cumulated solar capacity of 215GW by 2030 through easing bureaucracy and rules for solar arrays on farmlands.
Interested parties had handed in 516 bids with a combined volume of 4.65GW, while a capacity of 1.61GW had been on offer.
Successful bids averaged €64.70/MWh, down from an average of €70.30/MWh in the previous auction. The maximum bid price had been set at €73.70/MWh.
Most successful bids were for projects on agricultural or grassland areas, which won with a combined volume of 907MW, followed by 681MW of successful bids for projects at the edge of motorways or rail tracks.
