Prices edged higher in Germany’s fourth onshore wind auction this year, but only 363MW out of 670MW on offer was successful in the heavily-undersubscribed tendering round, said federal grid agency BNetzA.

The average price of winning bids rose to €62.60 ($71.67) per megawatt hour, slightly up from €61.60/MWh at a 630MW third auction in August.

“Despite a theoretically sufficient number of permits, the tendering round was clearly undersubscribed,” BNetzA president Jochen Homann said.

Wind groups have pointed out that policies and restrictions limiting the amount of areas available for wind power (such as distance rules, complicated regional planning procedures or air traffic-control constraints) has led to fewer bids and less competition at auctions.

The price of winning bids ranged from €50/MWh to €63/MWh.

The greatest volume of winning bids surprisingly went to the state of Bavaria (69MW), which has made permits very difficult to secure due to a strict distance rule. The state was followed by Brandenburg with 63MW and Lower Saxony with 42MW.

Five wind bids were excluded from the auction, the BNetzA said, without saying why.

The BNetzA also announced that a simultaneous solar auction was oversubscribed, with 182MW being awarded out of bids representing a total of 551MW.

The average price of winning bids in the solar auction edged higher to €46.90/MWh, up from €45.90 in the previous PV tendering round.

Transition

Price ticks up in under-subscribed German wind auction