Germany keeps onshore wind tender price cap stable for 2025, cuts solar ceiling
Price ceilings ensure that renewable energy targets can be achieved, grid agency says, as wind on land installation figures recover
Germany’s federal grids agency (BNetzA) has kept the price ceiling for onshore wind tenders next year unchanged at €73.50 ($76.50)/MWh, but lowered the price ceiling for solar tenders.
Without the new specifications, the price caps for wind would have fallen back to significantly lower values provided for in the Renewable Energy Sources Act (EEG), the agency said, adding that with higher price ceilings, there would be a risk that the respective tender volume would not be fully used in 2025. The outgoing German government plans to tender off 10GW of onshore wind each year through 2028.
“The newly defined maximum values set reliable framework conditions for the tenders,” BNetzA president Klaus Müller said.
“They ensure that the expansion targets for renewable energies can be achieved. At the same time, they help to ensure that the costs of support remain as low as possible.”
German onshore wind installations are slowly recovering from a previous lull after energy minister Robert Habeck in the past years eased permitting, limited possibilities for court cases and streamlined species protection. It is unclear whether a new government after Feb. 23 snap elections will continue his very pro-wind power policies.
For solar auctions next year, the BNetzA determined the price ceiling at €68.00/MWh for ground-based solar, at €90.00/MWh for hybrid plants in innovation tenders, and at €104.00/MWh for larger rooftop solar plants – all somewhat below this year’s price caps to reflect lower forecast electricity production costs.
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