Bundesnetzagentur announces successful bids in photovoltaic auction with Denmark
Date of issue 2016.11.28
The Bundesnetzagentur has announced the results of the first auction for ground-mounted photovoltaic (PV) installations also open to Danish bidders: five bids totalling 50 megawatts (MW) have been accepted at a price of 5.38 cents per kilowatt hour (ct/kWh).
Successful bids from Denmark
The award price is thus almost 2 ct/kWh below the average price of the bids accepted in the last national auction for ground-mounted PV installations, which stood at 7.25 ct/kWh.
All of the successful bids in the latest auction came from companies in Denmark and were for projects on farmland. At present, this type of land may not be used in Germany for ground-mounted PV installations. An open auction cannot take account of and accommodate all the different local conditions. Sites with the most favourable conditions will be the most successful.
Opening up auctions to foreign projects is designed to enhance the energy transition in Germany. In light of the differences in local conditions, however, the Renewable Energy Sources Act (EEG) deliberately sets a reasonable limit on the total volume put up for auction.
Pilot for possible future auctions
The auction with Denmark was the first cross-border auction for renewable electricity in Europe. It plays a key role as a pilot to gain practical experience of implementing cross-border auctions with other EU Member States.
43 bids comprising a total volume of 297 MW were submitted in the latest auction to the Bundesnetzagentur. 17 bids totalling 154 MW were for projects in Denmark and 26 amounting to 143 MW for projects in Germany. The auction volume of 50 MW was therefore nearly five times oversubscribed. Only two bids had to be disqualified.
All the bids for projects in Germany may be resubmitted for the national auction closing on 1 December (www.bundesnetzagentur.de/ffav16-3). The bids may also be submitted for the Danish auction (https://ens.dk/en/our-services/current-tenders/pilot-tender-price-premium-electricity-solar-pv).
Details of the successful bids have been published on the Bundesnetzagentur's website (in German) at www.bundesnetzagentur.de/pv-ausschreibung-dk.