Germany’s auction to install 1.61 GW of ground-mounted solar photovoltaic (PV) systems was oversubscribed by 240%, setting a new record, according to data released by the federal network agency Bundesnetzagentur.

The auction received 574 bids, the highest ever, with a volume of 5,485 MW, the largest ever for a ground-mounted solar auction. A total of 124 bids with a volume of 1,613 MW were accepted.

The bids quoted in the auction ranged from €0.0444 (~$0.043)/kWh to €0.0547 (~$0.054)/kWh and were below the ceiling tariff of €0.0737 (~$0.076)/kWh. The tariff quoted is also lower than the highest tariff of €0.0665 (~$0.076)/kWh in the previous auction.

The volume-weighted average award price was €0.0517 (~$0.054)/kWh, which is €0.013 (~$0.011)/kWh lower than the average of €0.0647 (~$0.065)/kWh in the previous auction.

“Yet another record was set in the latest auction round: never before was participation so strong in an auction for solar farms. Competition led to low winning bids,” said Klaus Müller, President of the Bundesnetzagentur.

Most of the bids in this auction round were for projects in the Bavaria region, which received 63 bids for a total capacity of 604 MW. It was followed by projects in the Brandenburg region, which received nine bids for a total capacity of 197 MW, whereas Saxony-Anhalt received 11 bids for a total capacity of 167 MW.

Ground-mounted solar projects planned alongside motorways and railway lines had 55 winning bids for a total of 828 MW, and projects planned for farmland or grassland had 47 winning bids for a total of 530 MW.

The agriculture PV system category saw ten successful bids. Additionally, two successful bids totaling 38 MW were awarded to projects that will rewet moorland that had previously been drained on the sites of new solar installations.

Nineteen successful bids had a volume of more than 20 MW. The largest successful bid had a volume of 74 MW.

A total of 43 bids, representing 7.5% of all the bids submitted, had to be excluded from the auction due to formal errors.

The next auction for solar projects in this segment will close for bids on March 1, 2024.

The total installed solar capacity in Germany soared to a record 14.2 GW in 2023, rising 91% from the previous year.

Meanwhile, electricity generated from renewables covered a majority of electricity consumption in Germany for the first time, accounting for nearly 59.7% of the net public electricity generation in 2023.