Germany’s ambitious plans for wind power expansion continue to face a shortage of projects

Germany has substantially increased the volume of this year’s auctions to support onshore wind power development, as faster growth in renewable energy is intended to help reduce dependence on fossil fuel imports. Even after a significant increase in the maximum bid prices, the auction once again failed to fill, with just under half of the capacity on offer awarded. As is customary, the awarded prices remained close to the upper limit set for the auction.

Germany has set very ambitious plans for this year, intending to offer nearly 13 GW of capacity for bidding across four separate auctions to support onshore wind power development. Four rounds were also held last year, but their total volume was significantly lower. In addition, due to a reduction in the volume of the final auction because of an expected shortage of projects, the German regulator offered only around 4.6 GW of capacity for bidding last year. Even so, this volume was not fully awarded.