German states aim to change rules for onshore wind power auctions

The council of federal state governments in Germany (Bundesrat) wants to counter “undesirable developments” in the country’s auction system for onshore wind power by changing the rules for citizens’ energy projects, the Bundesrat says in a press release. The council has introduced a bill aimed at cancelling all special provisions for citizens’ projects for onshore wind auctions in 2018 and 2019. Citizens’ projects have so far been exempt from certain requirements when submitting bids to Germany’s Federal Network Agency (BNetzA) in order to make sure that they are not disadvantaged by more financially capable institutional bidders. For instance, they did not have to obtain a construction license before submitting their bid - a long and costly procedure carried out to ensure that new installations comply with all environmental and building regulations. “In practice, this meant that a few project developers entered the stage, who acted as service providers for newly founded citizen cooperatives,” causing other bidders “economic turmoil,” the Bundesrat says.

Find the press release and the draft bill 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.