Germany launches third and last onshore wind auction for 1GW

Germany's Federal Network Agency (Bundesnetzagetur) has launched a third and final onshore wind auction with a target of 1 GW and a maximun bid of €70 (US$ 83.5) per MWh.

This auction follows previous rounds of 800 MW and 1 GW, which closed in May and August respectively. The deadline for submissions in the latest round is November 2.

As we reported in mid August, Germany awarded a total of 1,013 MW of  projects in the country's second onshore wind auction. The average price in the tender fell to €42.8/MWh (US$50.34) of produced electricity, which was down from €57.1/MWh in the first auction. The competition attracted 281 bids.

In the first round, Germany accepted a total of 70 successful bids for the development of onshore wind energy projects totalling 807 MW.  A total of 256 bids with a volume of 2,137 MW had been submitted.

Participation from German citizen energy projects in the first and second auction was strong, amounting 96% and 84% of successful bids respectively. 

For this round the German government has revised the citizens' wind projects privileges for the first two auctions. Under the revised scheme, citizens' wind projects will only be allowed to participate with projects that have a permit and, if successful, must commission it within 30 months. However, limitations on the maximum capacity of the projects have been lifted.

Citizen projects benefit from a simpler application process for their projects. For example, they do not need to provide an environmental permit in advance of their participation in the tender. However, the rules are expected to be tightened in 2018.

According to sources, Germany had about 50 GW of installed wind power capacity at the end of 2016. We have recently informed about other onshore wind projects in Germany:

• 12 MW Sandbostel wind farm in Lower Saxony
• Wasen/Hohe Stuckbaume onshore wind project in Black Forest
• 18 MW Windpark Perl in Merzig-Wadern
• 16.5 MW Hocherberg wind farm in Neunkirchen
• 6.6 MW Ludersdorf wind park in Brandenburg
• 13.2 MW Schmoelln wind farm in the state of Brandenburg (northeastern Germany)
• 6.3 MW Vetschau wind project expansion in Brandenburg
• 33 MW Straubenhardt wind project in Baden-Württemberg
• 28.8 MW Energiepark Profen wind project in Saxony-Anhalt
• 16 MW Bederkesa-Alfstedt wind farm in Bremerhaven