Little competition in second round of biomass auctions

Seventy-nine projects with a total capacity of around 77 megawatt have been successful in Germany’s second round of tenders for biomass plant, the Federal Network Agency (BNetzA) said in a press release. This represents a significant increase of awarded capacity compared to the previous round, but it was still much less than the 226 megawatt BNetzA had aimed for. Most of the successful projects are existing plants, which were allowed to take part in the auction. The average support rate reached in the tender is 14.73 cents per kilowatt-hour. As unused auction volumes will be transferred to upcoming auctions, BNetzA does not expect intensive competition in the future.
Bioenergy lobby groups have said in a joint statement that the low turnout was to be expected, because of the prescribed low maximum bid value. “Only few facility categories and sizes are able to continue to be profitable after such drastic support reductions,” they write. The associations call for a reform of the Renewable Energy Act (EEG).

Find the BNetzA press release in German here and the joint bioenergy lobby groups statement in German here.

For background, read the CLEW dossier Bioenergy in Germany.