Auction prices for solar PV in Germany rise for first time in two years

At the beginning of July, Germany held this year’s second auction to support the construction of ground-mounted solar PV. As in previous rounds, competition remained relatively healthy, with the full volume awarded. However, fewer projects were submitted than in previous rounds, which may also be the main reason why the average prices awarded in the July auction rose. This was the first increase in prices for ground-mounted solar PV auctions in Germany since 2023.

Germany has now held two of the three ground-mounted solar PV auctions planned for this year. In the second round, held at the beginning of last month, the German Federal Network Agency (Bundesnetzagentur) offered a total of 2.26 GW of installed capacity. According to the regulator, developers submitted 313 projects with a total capacity of 2.82 GW, exceeding the auction volume by a quarter.

Although the volume of submitted projects was around 1 GW lower than in the previous round, the auction was still fully subscribed. This was also helped by the fact that the volume in the latest round was almost 400 MW lower than in the March round. A total of 258 solar PV plants, with a combined capacity of 2.71 GW, secured operating support in the auction.

The lower level of oversubscription in an auction that was nevertheless fully subscribed was probably one of the main reasons for the increase in awarded prices. They ranged from 40 to 62.6 EUR/MWh, with a weighted average of 48.4 EUR/MWh. The average price thus rose by more than 2 EUR/MWh compared with the previous round. This was the first increase in the average awarded price for German solar PV in two years.

As in previous rounds, projects in sunny Bavaria dominated the auction, with 689 MW. The next largest volumes were in the federal states of Rhineland-Palatinate (251 MW) and Lower Saxony (250 MW).