Results of first auction for CHP plants
Jochen Homann: "A pleasingly high level of competition"
Date of issue 2017.12.11
The Bundesnetzagentur today announced the results of the first auction for combined heat and power (CHP) plants.
"The first auction for CHP plants was successful. The pleasingly high level of competition made it possible to accept an average bid of 4.05 cents. The auction thus supports the cost efficiency of payments for CHP plants," said Jochen Homann, Bundesnetzagentur President.
Auction significantly oversubscribed
The Bundesnetzagentur has announced that within the context of an auction for CHP plants, seven bids totalling 82 megawatts (MW) have been accepted. Twenty bids with a volume of 225 MW had been submitted. Only 82 MW were awarded despite the auction volume of 100 MW, since the next bid that would have been accepted significantly exceeded the auction volume. The volume not awarded this time will be auctioned in the next round.
The volume-weighted average price of the successful bids is 4.05 cents per kilowatt hour (ct/kWh). The lowest price bid was 3.19 ct/kWh and the highest price accepted was 4.99 ct/kWh. The bid accepted was that of the individual amounts bid ("pay as bid").
The successful bids cannot be directly compared with the previous additional payment levels that were set by law, because within the context of the auction there is no longer the option of self-supply or of drawing on avoided network charges.
Competition between different plant sizes possible
The installation capacity of the accepted bids shows that competition is possible even between CHP plants of different sizes. Five smaller bids (for plants with capacity of between 1 and 10 MW each) and two larger bids (for plants with capacity of about 30 MW each) were accepted. Competition between bids for modernised and new CHP plants is functioning too. Sixteen bids were submitted for new CHP plants and four for modernised ones. Three of the smaller accepted bids are for modernised plants.
No disqualifications
The quality of bids in the first round of auctions was unusually high, with none of the bids having to be disqualified. This shows that those taking part understood the procedure and that it was possible to meet the bidding requirements.
Details of the successful bids have been published on the Bundesnetzagentur's website (in German) at (www.bundesnetzagentur.de/kwk-ausschreibung17-1).