Germany raises price caps in innovative renewables auctions, latest round ends in failure

Germany’s grid regulator has announced higher maximum bid prices for another category of auctions for renewable energy projects. After previously raising price caps by 25% for auctions for solar and wind power, the regulator is now turning to innovative auctions, where projects combining generation with storage compete for support. Conditions for innovative auctions changed at the end of last year, leading to a collapse in the number of bids: only one bid was submitted in the latest auction.

Germany has long faced a shortage of projects in renewable energy auctions, a problem exacerbated over the past year by rising prices for components needed to build them, which has pushed up the prices at which they can generate electricity. Following changes to legislation, the German grid regulator raised price caps by 25% for auctions for onshore wind farms and rooftop solar near the end of last year. In January, it then raised price caps by the same amount for auctions for ground-mounted solar power plants.