Gen­er­al in­for­ma­tion

• Eligibility
• Bidding procedure
• Award procedure
• After award notices have been issued
• Payment entitlement
• Determination of the applicable reference value

Eligibility

In General

• In principle, the opened cross-border auction held between Denmark and Germany is open to all.
• Bids shall be tied to their bidders, meaning that bidders shall be free to use their successful bids and payment entitlements for various projects, but not to sell or transfer them.
• Bids must be tied to a specific project: bidders must indicate exactly where they are planning to build the ground-mounted installations in question. However, bidders shall be free to later re-assign their successful bids to installations built on sites other than the ones specified in the original bid. This, however, shall result in the amount of funding being reduced by 0.3 Euro cents/kilowatt hour. It remains permitted to sell installations once they have been starting operation.

Specifics and location of the PV-installation

The auction shall be open to bidders who want to build a ground-mounted installation within the meaning of Section 3 no. 3 of the Cross-border Renewable Energy Ordinance.

A PV-installation that is not installed on or integrated into a building or any other edificial structure which has been primarily constructed for purposes other than the production of electricity from solar radiation energy.

For details, please consult the relevant rulings of the civil courts, the outcomes of the procedures conducted by the clearing panel for matters arising under the Renewable Energy Sources Act, and the relevant specialist literature.

Solar installations can thereby be located in both Denmark and Germany.

Ownership of the site

Bidders must own the sites specified in their bid or have been granted permission to construct a ground-mounted installation by the owner of the site. A respective declaration is required. Non-compliance may result in the bid being excluded or the award being revoked.

Conditions for payment

Sites

Ground-mounted installations located on the territory of the Federal Republic of Germany must meet the following requirements in order to be eligible to receive payments.

They must be built on sites that

or

• had already been sealed at the time when the decision to adopt or amend the land-use plan was taken,
• had been a conversion area used for commercial, transport, housing or military purposes at the time when the decision to adopt or amend the land-use plan was taken,
• had been situated along motorways and railway lines at the time when the decision to adopt or amend the land-use plan was taken – provided that the ground-mounted installation was constructed at a distance of up to 110 metres, measured from the outer edge of the paved roadway, or
• had been or still is owned by the Federal State or the Institute for Federal Real Estate (Bundesanstalt für Immobilienaufgaben) and has been managed by the Institute for Federal Real Estate since after 31 December 2013, and has been publicly listed by the Institute for Federal Real Estate on its website as available for the development of solar installations.

Furthermore, installations may not be located on a site that received a legally binding designation as a nature reserve within the meaning of Section 23 of the Federal Nature Conservation Act ("Bundesnaturschutzgesetz") or as a national park within the meaning of Section 24 of the Federal Nature Conservation Act at the time of the adoption or amendment of the land-use plan.

In the case of projects planned at a Danish location, no site restrictions shall apply as a requirement for payments to be approved.

Installation capacity

The bidding volume must correspond to the ground-mounted installation’s (DC) capacity (peak value), which must be at least 100 kilowatt and no more than 10 megawatts.

This is to be calculated in line with Section 22(5) of the Cross-border Renewable Energy Ordinance, which stipulates that, for the purposes of determining the size of an installation having recently placed generators in service, multiple modules being treated as one installation irrespective of the ownership structure solely for the purpose of calculating the support level for the respective last generator put into operation if

• they are located on the same site, the same property or otherwise in direct proximity and
• have become operational within twelve successive calendar months or have been set up in the same municipality, and have become operational within 24 successive calendar months in a linear distance of up to 2 kilometres, measured from the outer edge of the respective installation.

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Bidding procedure

Bidding deadline

Bids must have been received by the Bundesnetzagentur at its premises (Tulpenfeld 4, 53113 Bonn) by the end of the bidding deadline (23 November 2016); under the provisions governing deadlines, this means that all bids have to be received by 23 November 2016. Bidders must comply with the formal requirements set out by the Bundesnetzagentur. Bids submitted after the deadline will be automatically excluded.

Submitting form

Bidders must complete the form for submitting a bid in the opened auction.

The respective form is available for download from this website and must be filled in electronically, using a suitable PDF reader. Failure to comply with the formal requirements, i.e. by submitting forms completed by hand, or by making declarations other than by using the appropriate forms shall result in the documentation not being accepted.

Should any technical difficulties arise with completing the forms, they most likely are linked to the PDF viewer used. This applies in particular to PDF viewers installed in browsers, which often do not offer the functions required for completing forms. Should such problems occur when trying to open the forms in the browser, one may proceed as follow: Download the forms to the computer, only thereafter open them using a PDF programme.

The information asked for in the forms must be provided in a precise manner.

The bid submission form must be placed in a separate sealed envelope and submitted along with the rest of the documentation (envelope in envelope).

Additional documents

If the bidder is a legal person or partnership having legal capacity and if a minimum of 25 per cent of voting rights or capital lies with another legal person or partnership having legal personality, the shareholders form must be submitted as an annex to the bid-submission form.

If the information about the location of the installation provided in the bid submission form is insufficient as a result of the installation being planned across more than one local subdistrict, the location form must be used (if necessary in duplicate or more) and be submitted as an annex to the bid.

Where they need to be submitted, the forms about the shareholders and location must be placed in the separate sealed envelope containing the bid submission form, meaning that bidders must place up to three forms into the envelope within the envelope.

If the bid is placed by someone other than a natural person, an authorised representative must be named on the form. Natural persons shall be free to have themselves represented by an authorised representative. If the authorised representatives cannot be contacted under the contact details specified in the bidding form, the form supplying information about the authorised representatives must be submitted along with the bid. However, the power of attorney need not be placed in the envelope inside the envelope.

Bidding fee

Bids should normally be posted to the address provided in the contact box on the left side, along with all of the documentation required. They can, however, also be handed in in person at the entrance of the Bundesnetzagentur, Tulpenfeld 4, 53113 Bonn.

The bid submission form (along with the additional forms supplying information about the shareholder structure and the location, if applicable) must be provided in a separate, sealed envelope. This rule of having a second envelope shall be strictly adhered to; in order to ensure compliance with the rule that bids must only be opened after the closing date of the bidding round (23.11.2016). Bids that are not submitted in a separate envelope shall be automatically excluded from the procedure.

Security payment

For each bid, a security payment must be made.

The security payment amounts to 70 Euros per kilowatt for which a bid is being placed. For instance, the security payable for an installation with a capacity of one megawatt would amount to €70,000 (70 x 1,000 kW).

The security payment can be made either by way of

• bank transfer into the account mentioned above (along with the fee; the payment reference must be stated clearly so that it can be matched unequivocally with the right bid) or
• a suretyship given by a financial institution or a loan insurer – in which case the suretyship form must be used.

Guarantees shall be issued to the benefit to the grid operator:

• In case of a bank transfer, the payment reference must be stated clearly so that it can be matched unequivocally with the right bid.
• In case the security for an installation located in Germany this guarantee shall be issued to the benefit of the grid operator in whose balancing zone the installation is to be built.
• Where the installation is to be built in Denmark, the name of the creditor to be stated shall be the transmission network operator operating the nearest transmission line that crosses or traverses the border between the Federal Republic of Germany and the Kingdom of Denmark and which serves the sole purpose of interconnecting the national grids of these states. In most cases, this will be TenneT TSO GmbH.

The security payment shall be reimbursed if

• the bid is withdrawn,
• the bis is unsuccessful,
• once the installation has been completed and this fact has been verified, or
• once the bidder has paid a fine for failure to build the installation.

Bids can be withdrawn until the closure date of the bidding round. This has to be done by using the form for withdrawing a bid. A bid shall only be considered withdrawn if the form has been fully completed and received by the Bundesnetzagentur at its Bonn premises before or on the bidding date. If a bid is withdrawn, the associated fee shall be reimbursed.

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Award procedure

After the bidding date, the Bundesnetzagentur will assess the bids that have been submitted in time as to whether they meet the above requirements for participation in the auction.

Bids that meet the requirements shall be accepted if the total capacity of the installations for which bids have been submitted does not exceed the volume that is being auctioned. If the total capacity of the installations which meet the above requirements exceeds the total volume that is being auctioned, the lowest bids shall be awarded, if several bids have been submitted for the same price, bids shall be awarded starting with the bids relating to the smaller capacities (bidding volume). In cases where the bidding volume is also the same, lots shall be drawn. The bid which marks the point where the bidding volume is reached in full or oversubscribed shall nevertheless be accepted in full.

The price at which contracts are awarded in the opened cross-border auction shall be determined under a uniform-pricing mechanism:

The outcomes of the award procedure will be published on this website. In addition to this, successful bidders will be informed that their bids have been accepted.

Security payments made for unsuccessful bids will be reimbursed. In addition, the associated fee paid is going to be reduced by a quarter. Any excess amounts paid shall be reimbursed without the bidder having to take any form of action.

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After award notices have been issued

The relevant award notice shall expire after two years, if no application for payment entitlement is filed within that time.

In this case, the bidder will have to pay a fine. In the event that it becomes apparent within nine months after a bid has been declared successful that an installation cannot or is not to be built, it shall be possible for the award to be returned using the award returning form. The fine payable in the case that an award notice is returned within this time period shall be lower than the one that applies when an award notice expires.

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Payment entitlement

Successful bidders can file an application for a payment entitlement to be issued as soon as they have constructed a ground-mounted installation and taken it into service. Regarding the time where an installation is considered in service, the provisions of the Renewable Energy Sources Act (EEG) apply.

Only ground-mounted installations shall be eligible for participation in the opened auction. As a matter of principle, such installations may not be built on physical structures. The definition of what constitutes a physical structure is very broad: all structures assembled using building material and permanently attached to the ground are generally considered to be a physical structure. This means that landfills and sealed landing strips may under certain circumstances also be considered physical structures. It is recommended for everyone who is planning to build such an installation in order to participate in the opened auction to verify whether there are any physical structures on the tract of land and whether these might render the construction of a ground-mounted installation impossible.

Once the payment entitlement has been issued and the data provided by the bidder confirmed by the grid operator, the security payments made for successful bids shall be reimbursed.

Successful bidders can apply for payment entitlement as soon as their ground-mounted installation/any capacity added to their installation has been put into operation in accordance with the rules of the Renewable Energy Sources Act. Applications must be made using the relevant form. Bidders may apply for a single payment entitlement for several successful bids or apply for payments only for parts of their bids. In order to be eligible to file an application, bidders must have been awarded a bidding volume that corresponds to the installed capacity of the installation and which may not be lower than 100 kilowatts or larger/higher than 10 megawatts.

Prior registration of the ground-mounted installation in the installations register (Anlagenregister) is not necessary. However, all the data required for registration must be furnished as part of the application for payment entitlement, meaning that the ground-mounted installation can be registered as part of this procedure. No separate application is necessary for this.

Installations that receive funding from Germany but are located in Denmark shall also be registered in the installations register.

Payment entitlement can only be issued for ground-mounted installations added to these that have been built on areas which meet the criteria set out in the Cross-border Renewable Energy Ordinance and the international agreement. Payments for ground-mounted installations located in Denmark shall not be subject to compliance with any area restrictions. Installations built in Germany must meet the above criteria for eligible areas, pursuant to Section 22 (1) No. 2 Letter a of the Cross-border Renewable Energy Ordinance.

Payments will only be made if no funding under the Renewable Energy Sources Act has previously been received for electricity generated in the same ground-mounted installation/using the capacity added to it.

Payment entitlement shall be granted for a specific installation and shall not be transferrable. This shall apply notwithstanding the possibility to transfer companies or shares in the companies operating the installations.

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Determination of the applicable reference value

Every ground-mounted installation shall be assigned an individual reference value to be considered in the calculation of the sliding market premium to be calculated by the Bundesnetzagentur in accordance with Sections 28 and 29 of the Cross-border Renewable Energy Ordinance.

The following basic rules apply:

• If there is exactly one award notice to be issued for one ground-mounted installation, the reference value corresponds to the awarded price.
• If several award notices are to be issued for the same ground-mounted installation, the reference value used will be the weighted average price.
• If the ground-mounted installation is to be built in a location different from the one specified in the bid, the price calculated will be reduced by 0.3 ct/kWh. For installations located in Germany, the new site must be located in an area where no area restrictions apply; otherwise the installation is not entitled to payments under the Cross-border Renewable Energy Ordinance.
• If the application for issuance of payment authorisation is filed later than 18 calendar months after a bid has been declared successful, the price calculated will also be reduced by 0.3 ct/kWh. If the application is filed later than 24 calendar months after the bid has been declared successful, the issued award is automatically being revoked.
• If applicable, the deductions for choosing an alternative site and for late filing of the application will be cumulated.

Procedure

1. The Bundesnetzagentur assesses the data stated in the form as to whether it is credible before issuing a notice of payment entitlement.
   For installations located in Germany, the assessment includes verification that the relevant land-use plan has been approved by the competent municipal authority.
2. Unless the installation has already been listed in the installations register, the Bundesnetzagentur will register the installation, provided that the relevant fields in the application form for issuance of a payment entitlement have been filled in.
3. The operator of the installation will receive a notice of payment entitlement and of the price (reference value) that has been fixed.
4. The operator of the grid to which the installation is connected will be informed that payment entitlement has been granted.
5. The grid operator will verify the data provided by the operator of the installation. The grid operator can request proof/evidence of the data provided. The grid operator is required to inform the Bundesnetzagentur of the result of the assessment. For installations built in Denmark, this task shall be performed by the Danish Administrative Entity (energienet.dk).
6. The Bundesnetzagentur cancels the bidding volume stated in the application for payment entitlement as having been used and those bidding volumes cannot be used again for further payment entitlements.
7. Payment entitlement is granted in exchange for a fee. The fee per payment entitlement shall amount to € 615.
8. Once payment entitlement has been granted, the security payments for the respective successful bids will be reimbursed, provided that the grid operator has confirmed the data provided by the bidder.

Payment entitlement

The ground-mounted installations shall receive funding in line with the provisions of the Renewable Energy Sources Act; the following derogations shall apply:

The funding period shall be exactly 20 years, starting from either of the following dates

• the payment entitlement was issued, or
• the installation began feeding in electricity, or
• at which the electricity first became available on the market (in accounting terms).

The earliest date shall apply.

All of the electricity generated by the installation must be fed into the grid or offered to a grid operator for sale (in accounting terms).

As a general rule, the use of electricity from the installations for purposes of self-supply is not permissible and will result in payment entitlement being revoked permanently. It may further result in the obligation to return prior payments.

In derogation from Section 32 (1) Sentence 2 No. 2 of the Cross-border Renewable Energy Ordinance and in line with the relevant provision agreed within the International Agreement between Germany and Denmark in accordance with Section 32 (3) of the Cross-border Renewable Energy Ordinance (Article 4 (1) letter a), the price paid for electricity from installations that are not directly connected to a grid within the territory of the Federal Republic of Germany shall be zero for the entire period of time in which the value of the hourly contracts are continuously negative, when the value of the hourly contracts in the relevant price zone in the auctions of the day before had been negative for at least six consecutive hours.