The Federal Network Agency of Germany (Bundesnetzagentur) has concluded its latest 400 MW solar with storage auction with a total of 32 accepted bids, revealing a lowest tariff of €0.077 (~$0.081)/kWh.

The tariffs of the successful bids ranged from €0.077 (~$0.081)/kWh to €0.088 (~$0.093)/kWh.

The average volume-weighted award price in this round was €0.083 (~$0.087)/kWh.

As a result, both the volume-weighted average price and the respective maximum value were around €0.018 (~$0.019)/kWh above those of the solar auction held in July this year.

The ceiling tariff for the tender was set as €0.092 (~$0.097)/kWh.

The auction was oversubscribed by 95% and garnered 53 bids for a total volume of 779 MW. All bids were submitted for solar with storage facilities.

From a regional perspective, Bavaria was awarded more than half the bids (258 MW, 19 winning bids).

Two bids were excluded from the bidding process due to formal errors.

The last date to bid for the tender was September 1, 2023.

In reference to the specified site categories, 21 bids were approved for projects with a combined capacity of 175 MW, all of which are situated along 500-meter-long stretches of highways and railways. Earlier in the year, the eligibility criteria for receiving support under the Renewable Energy Sources Act were expanded from 200 meters to 500 meters for land areas.

The agency had also rolled out a biomethane installation auction with a volume of 8 MW parallelly, which did not receive any bids.

In August, Bundesnetzagentur concluded its 1.6 GW solar auction with 124 accepted bids, discovering a lowest tariff of €0.054 (~$0.057)/kWh. The tender received an overwhelming response, with the bid volume increasing to 1.67 GW.

Earlier, Germany’s auction for installing 191 MW of rooftop solar projects was oversubscribed by 79%. The auction garnered substantial interest, receiving a total of 155 bids amounting to 342 MW.

Due to the underwhelming response to solar and wind auctions in 2022, the German Parliament empowered the Federal Network Agency to potentially raise the tariff cap by up to 25%. Consequently, for 2023, the ceiling tariff for rooftop solar installations has been set at €0.112 (~$0.118)/kWh, while wind project bids will have a cap of €0.073 ($0.077)/kWh.