“Positive signals” as last German wind power auction 2019 oversubscribed
Clean Energy Wire
More bids than necessary to cover the tendered volume of 500 megawatt (MW) capacity were entered in the last of six German onshore wind power auctions in 2019, marking the end of a series of wind power auctions that failed to attract enough bidders, the Federal Network Agency (BNetzA) reported in a press release. Seventy-six bids made it the first oversubscribed auction since August 2018. “However, it remains to be seen whether this will mean a turnaround for onshore wind energy,” the BNetzA wrote. The German Wind Energy Association (BWE), however, sees “positive signals” in the results. “This conciliatory result should give us hope for a stabilisation of the German wind market in 2020,” said BWE head Hermann Albers. “But it is far from being the all-clear.” The average remuneration awarded for the 56 successful projects stood at 6.11 cents per kilowatt hour (kWh).
Onshore wind power in Germany is going through its worst growth phase in two decades, with the number of turbines added falling to the lowest levels in decades. Wind power is supposed to become a cornerstone of Germany's future energy supply and the government has presented plans to greatly increase the expansion of renewables until 2030 as part of the country's recent climate action package. In 2019, it replaced brown coal as the country's single most important power source.
