Solar PV auction for roofs and sound barriers in Germany oversubscribed

Germany’s latest auction for photovoltaic (PV) systems on roofs and noise protection walls was far oversubscribed. A volume of 342 megawatts (MW), distributed amongst 155 bids, far surpassed the tender volume for a total capacity of 191 MW, the Federal Network Agency (BNetZA) said. “The development of tenders for rooftop solar installations is welcome, especially the regional distribution: bids were submitted for projects in every federal state - tenders were accepted for projects in 15 federal states,” BNetzA head Klaus Müller said. Germany has a total of 16 federal states. Successful bids ranged between 8.80 ct/kWh and 10.80 ct/kWh.

“In the event of suitable framework conditions, together [the solar industry] will deliver the desired contribution to climate protection,” head of solar industry association BSW Solar, Carsten Körnig, said. Energy policy reforms by Germany’s coalition government are paying off and have put solar auctions “on the road to success,” he added. Germany is pushing to make progress towards its aim of covering 80 percent of its electricity from renewable sources by 2030; an aim that has only been strengthened by the need for greater energy independence following Russia’s attack on Ukraine. While wind power auctions have repeatedly been undersubscribed in recent years and have only managed to fully auction off planned volumes in the past months, solar power auctions have so far usually been oversubscribed.