Maximum support rate for onshore wind raised to ensure continuous expansion

The maximum support rate for onshore wind power installations in Germany’s renewables auctions scheme has been raised to 6.3 cents per kilowatt hour to ensure competition among bidders and a continuous expansion of the energy source, the Federal Grid Agency (BNetzA) says in a press release. Without the raise, the maximum support rate would have had to be derived from the results of previous auctions. These were dominated by citizen energy projects with long implementation periods which based their bids on projected future input prices that do not necessarily reflect current cost levels, the BNetzA says. The support rate in this case would now stand at 5cts/kWh, less than the current energy generation costs for onshore wind power of 5.6cts/kWh, which might have led to a situation in which not enough bidders compete in the next auction to exhaust the entire tendered volume. “The increase of the maximum price allows for a healthy competition in 2018,” BNetzA head Jochen Homann said. “Bidders can submit price levels that enable them to operate the installations at a profit.”

Find the press release in German here.

See the CLEW factsheet High hopes and concerns over onshore wind power auctions and the CLEW article Booming German wind power sector fears 2019 cliff for background.