Results of the innovation auction and biomethane installation auctions that began on 1 September 2023
Year of issue 2023
Date of issue 2023.09.28
The Bundesnetzagentur has today announced the results of the innovation auction that closed for bids on 1 September 2023. The innovation auction was significantly oversubscribed. No bids were received in the parallel auction for biomethane installations.
"Following two weak auctions, the innovation auctions have regained momentum. The fact that this auction was nearly twice oversubscribed shows what kind of a dynamic renewables can have. The aim now is to maintain the current level of project development,"
said Klaus Müller, President of the Bundesnetzagentur.
Innovation auction
Bids in the innovation auctions are only accepted for combinations of wind farms or solar installations with facilities that have secured generation. The innovation auction had a volume of 400 MW. A total of 53 bids with a volume of 779 megawatts (MW) were received. All bids submitted were for combinations of solar installations and storage facilities.
The auction resulted in 32 bids being awarded a total volume of 408 MW. The prices of the successful bids range from 7.76 cents per kilowatt hour (ct/kWh) to 8.78 ct/kWh. The average volume-weighted award price in this round is 8.33 ct/kWh. As a result, both the volume-weighted average price and the respective maximum value are around 1.8 ct/kWh above those of the solar farm auction that ended on 1 July 2023.
With regard to the site categories indicated, 21 successful bids totalling 175 MW went to projects that are planned on 500-metre long shoulder strips of motorways and railway lines. At the beginning of the year, eligibility of a land area to receive support under the Renewable Energy Sources Act was extended from 200 metres to 500 metres.
From a regional perspective, Bavaria was awarded more than half the bids (258 MW, 19 winning bids).
Only two bids had to be excluded from the tendering procedure due to formal errors.
Biomethane installation auctions
No bids were submitted in the biomethane installation auction, which had a volume of 8 MW.
Further steps in the process
Further information about the auctions is available here (in German):
Innovation auction
Biomethane installation auction
The updated bidding round statistics will be published shortly.
The next innovation auction will close for bids on 1 May 2024, and the next biomethane installation auction will end on 1 April 2024.