Germany elevates price cap for ground-mounted solar tender

• Germany's Federal Network Agency today elevated the maximum price for this year's ground-mounted solar tender to EUR 0.0737 (USD 0.08) per kWh from EUR 0.059 per kWh in 2022 in a bid to offer better conditions for designers as well as attract more interest in the competition.

The greater price cap will relate to the preliminary of the auction in this category with a deadline of March 1, 2023.

The power regulatory authority was authorised at the end of 2022 to increase the maximum prices by up to 25% as greater costs for the building and operation of renewable energy plants along with higher rates of interest for task funding had actually brought about such a significant decrease in bids that left the majority of the rounds vastly undersubscribed.

By increasing the maximum value for ground-mounted solar setups, the Federal Network Agency is making sure stable conditions in this segment in order to achieve the necessary expansion targets, claimed Klaus Mueller, President of the Federal Network Agency.

According to Mueller, the greater cap must enable programmers to make adequate bids.

In 2015, Germany sought to designate 3.6 GW of solar in three phone calls but wound up with only about 2.4 GW of awarded capacity as demand was weak. In 2023, the capacity to be assigned is elevated to nearly 6 GW with the initial of the three rounds to be held by March 1.

The maximum prices for the auctions for onshore wind as well as rooftop solar energy were raised at the end of December to EUR 0.0735 and also EUR 0.1125 per kWh, respectively.