German PV tender brings average solar price of €0.049/kWh

Germany’s Federal Network Agency, the Bundesnetzagentur, selected 27 solar projects with a combined generation capacity of 153 MW in the PV tender completed on Friday.

The final prices of the successful projects ranged from €0.0459-0.0520/kWh, for an average €0.0490 – lower than the level seen in the last two procurement rounds and almost as low as that recorded in the opening tender for this year, in February.

The chief reason is a change in Bavarian regulations during the summer which has made it easier to develop solar projects on agricultural land in disadvantaged areas. That type of project accounted for 19 of the 27 facilities allocated on Friday, with Bavarian agricultural land projects boasting a cumulative generation capacity of around 130 MW in the latest tender.

The Federal Network Agency said the decision to permit 70 new projects per year under the scheme, from the previous cap of 30, also increased competition.

Looming tenders

Some 153 projects with a total capacity of 648 MW pre-qualified for the 150 MW tender, announced the agency, with 11 bids subsequently excluded for late filings or paperwork errors.

There are at least two more public tenders for solar this year. A 200 MW mixed solar and onshore wind procurement round is planned on November 4 and a special PV tender to allocate a further 500 MW of generation capacity will be held on December 2. In previous mixed technology renewables tenders like the former, solar has claimed all the available capacity.

The Federal Network Agency is also planning to hold a 250 MW ‘innovation tender’ but has not specified a date.

An onshore wind tender held in parallel with the latest solar procurement round allocated 25 projects with a total 204 MW of capacity at final prices ranging from €0.0619-0.0620/kWh.