"Surprising start for onshore wind power auctions"

The German Wind Energy Association (BWE) has called the dominance of citizens' energy cooperatives in the first round of onshore wind power tenders a "surprise" and a "pleasant signal". Citizens' cooperatives increased wind power's local acceptance but now faced the challenge of implementing their projects, BWE head Hermann Albers said in a press release. Since citizen projects did not have to obtain a license tied to a specific location before submitting their bids, some of the auctioned projects might not even be allowed in the end, Albers warned. He said the volume of projects that are not realised should be added to future auctions . Matthias Zelinger, head of the German Engineering Federation (VDMA), said citizen projects were initially meant to be "an exception" in the auctions, adding that their unexpected dominance"makes the expansion volume for 2019 very unpredictable". Zelinger said the special rules for citizen projects ought to be reviewed if the trend persisted in the next round of auctions.

Find the press release in German here.

See the CLEW article Citizens' energy projects dominate first onshore wind power auction and the factsheet High hopes and concerns over onshore wind power auctions for more information