German ground-mounted solar auction sees record participation, but prices remain relatively high

The second round of this year’s auctions to support the construction of ground-mounted solar power plants in Germany attracted a record number of participants, with the volume of projects submitted reaching almost three times the capacity up for auction. Compared with the previous round, the strong participation helped bring down the auction prices, although they remained significantly higher than in auctions in previous years.

In early July, Germany held the second of this year’s three dedicated auctions to support the construction of ground-mounted solar power plants. A total of 1611 MW of capacity was up for auction in the July round, with the regulator reducing the volume from the originally planned 1950 MW in line with the rules set out in German legislation.

A total of 516 projects with an installed capacity of 4653 MW were submitted, almost three times the capacity up for auction and the largest volume of projects ever submitted in a single round of Germany’s solar power auctions. The regulator had to disqualify 22 of them, however. By comparison, projects with a total capacity of 2868 MW competed in the previous round, which had a volume of 1950 MW. Before the price caps were raised for this year, none of last year’s auctions was fully subscribed.