Interest in rooftop solar subsidies in Germany rises slightly, but June auction is again undersubscribed

Germany held its second auction this year last month to support photovoltaic power plants installed on buildings and noise barriers. Although the volume of projects submitted rose considerably compared with the weak February round, the offered capacity went unused for the second time in a row. Despite stronger competition, the awarded prices rose in the latest round.

While auctions for ground-mounted solar or wind farms in Germany have long attracted more demand than supply, the rooftop segment continues to struggle with more subdued interest from developers.

In the June auction, Germany’s regulator offered a total of 296 MW for bidding. It received 125 bids from developers, with a total capacity of 238 MW. This was a visible increase compared with the February round, when 98 projects with a capacity of 177 MW were submitted, but it was still not enough to fill the auction.

The regulator also had to disqualify 17 projects on formal grounds. In the end, 108 projects secured support, with a total installed capacity of 209 MW. The developers secured minimum guaranteed prices ranging from 84 to 100 EUR/MWh in the auction. The weighted average awarded price reached 97.2 EUR/MWh, bringing it close to the price cap and above the level in the previous round.

By region, the largest number of successful projects was in North Rhine-Westphalia (49 MW), followed by Lower Saxony (36 MW) and Baden-Württemberg (22 MW).

Expectations fall short and prices rise

The results of the latest auction rounds show that the rooftop segment in Germany is in a different position from the rest of the solar sector. In the February round, only half of the offered capacity was awarded (155 MW out of a total of 282.7 MW), while the average price fell slightly to 95.6 EUR/MWh. Although the June auction saw a recovery in the volume of projects submitted, with 209 MW of capacity, prices rose again.