Prices awarded in German rooftop solar auctions continue to rise

Germany held its first auction this year in early February to support the construction of solar installations on rooftops and noise barriers. Interest in the auctions has remained strong in recent rounds, but prices continue to rise despite the competition. After falling around the turn of 2023 and 2024, prices in this auction segment have therefore been edging up steadily. This year’s February round was no exception.

Germany plans to hold several auctions this year to support the construction of solar installations, divided into multiple segments. One of these covers solar power plants built on building rooftops and noise barriers. Three such auctions are expected this year, offering a combined capacity of nearly 900 MW.

In the February round, the German regulator sought a total of 315.4 MW. Developers submitted 169 projects with a total installed capacity of 369 MW, exceeding the auction volume by just under a fifth. In the end, 143 projects with a capacity of 317 MW secured support.

According to the regulator, projects with a capacity of between 1 and 20 MW were eligible to participate in the auction. More than half of the successful projects were installations with a capacity of up to 2 MW. The largest project submitted had an installed capacity of 12 MW.

The awarded prices ranged from 79 to 96.9 EUR/MWh, with a weighted average of 91 EUR/MWh. Compared with the previous round, when the average price reached 90.4 EUR/MWh, this represents another slight increase. Auction prices have been rising since the beginning of last year, although they remain below 2023 levels, when they initially exceeded 100 EUR/MWh.

As for the regional distribution, as in the previous two rounds, North Rhine-Westphalia had the most projects, at 78 MW. It was followed by the federal states of Lower Saxony (49 MW) and Saxony-Anhalt (35 MW). Bavaria, which traditionally dominates auctions for ground-mounted solar, ranked fourth with 33 MW.