Germany’s power network agency announced 958 MW of offshore wind capacity at zero subsidy for commissioning in the North Sea and the Baltic Sea in Bundesnetzagentur, Germany. The winner of the three projects were EDF and RWE Renewables. EDF secured a project to build a wind park with a capacity of 433 MW in the North sea, while RWE Renewables Offshore Development Two was awarded a tender for 225 MW in the North Sea and RWE Renewables Offshore Development One for 300 MW capacity in the Baltic Sea,all at zero subsidy.
The three wind parks are scheduled to start operation in 2026 and the two energy companies will then have the right to operate them for a period of 25 years., it is still unclear if the 433 MW and the 300 MW projects would be constructed Bids for the EDF and RWE 300 MW projects were decided by drawing lots. However, due to the switch to a centralised tender system, it is uncertain whether the selected developers will construct the project since developers who had planned wind farms in these two regions are entitled to make zero-subsidy proposals. Nordsee two, jointly owned by northland Power and RWE Renewables and Windanker GmbH are the two companies that possess entrance rights that can be exercised until November 2, 2021.
In August 2021, Germany Federal Network Agency had announced auction results for the 250 MW solar innovation auction. The weighted average tariff of the projects allocated was $0.0532 per kWh, which was higher than the previous round’s rate of $0.0501 per kWh. The winning bidders’ lowest bid for the solar plus storage combination was $0.0466 per kWh, while the highest bid was $0.064 per kWh.
REGlobal’s Views: Germany is expected to witness more uptake in the offshore wind space after the European Commission’s approval of an operating aid scheme for offshore wind development in March 2021 under EU State aid rules. However, the country needs to conduct more auctions to attract developers and have a strong project pipeline in place.