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(Bloomberg) — Germany’s most recent onshore wind auction has seen the highest participation in seven years, signaling a nascent turnaround in the effort to slash harmful carbon emissions.
The tendering process — that closed on May 1 — saw almost 2.4 gigawatts of successful bids, with the offers submitted inching close to the annual expansion goal of 2.5 gigawatts, a level not seen since 2017, the energy regulator said in a statement on Wednesday.
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If the trend holds, Germany’s target to almost double its onshore capacity to 115 gigawatts by 2030 “will be achievable,” Klaus Müller, president of the Federal Network Agency said in the statement.
“The German wind energy sector is back,” Bärbel Heidebroek, head of federal wind group BWE said. “After a year with a peak volume of new approvals and a very strong first quarter in terms of approvals, we are now seeing the positive mood in the industry reflected in the tenders.”
Germany’s onshore wind expansion has been slow due to prolonged approval procedures, push-back from local communities and high costs of inputs and financing. The government has pushed to speed up the deployment of renewables through legislation.
The bidders — most of them located in the north and the industrial heartland of North-Rhine Westfalia — have asked for average subsidies of about 7.33 cents per kilowatt-hours, slightly below the last round in February. In a separate tender round, the regulator awarded 512 megawatts of combined solar and storage projects.
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