With his Easter package, Robert Habeck wants to drastically accelerate the expansion of renewable energies. In particular, he wants to greatly accelerate the expansion of wind power plants. However, too few applications were received in response to the tenders of the Federal Network Agency in May, so that the line in the sum of all bids was below the advertised capacity. This means that for the first time there were not enough investors willing to invest their money in wind power plants.
Federal Network Agency does not find enough investors for wind power plants
The expansion of wind energy is progressing much more slowly than planned by Economics Minister Habeck. In the tender in May, all applicants were awarded contracts. The problem is that much more capacity was put out to tender than was planned to be awarded to investors. According to information from the Federal Network Agency, 114 bids with a total capacity of 931 megawatts were accepted for the construction of one or more wind turbines. However, a total capacity of 1320 megawatts was tendered. For the remaining 389 MW, there were no interested parties willing to invest money in a wind power plant for the guaranteed purchase price of 5.85 cents per kilowatt hour. At the same time, the price for the electricity was close to the previous highest value for the bids.
Network agency surprised by low interest
In the last two tenders of the grid agency, there was more total output on the bidding side than was put out to tender. As a result, several projects that had already been planned were not awarded contracts. The tender volume in May was similar to that in the last two tender rounds. Therefore, the Federal Network Agency was surprised that the number of bids dropped so drastically.
Experts see the cause in complicated approval procedures and increasing resistance among the population.
Industry experts see the complicated approval procedure as the cause. An award from the Federal Network Agency alone would not be enough to build a wind turbine. According to the German Wind Energy Association (BWE), the agency tenders more capacity for wind power plants than has already been approved in the federal states as a whole. This would now have had an effect in the first quarter. Furthermore, however, more and more investors are being deterred by complaints from citizens and nature conservationists.
The investors who charge the lowest price for the electricity are awarded the contract.
Operators with approved projects can apply for the Federal Network Agency’s tender. The Federal Network Agency specifies the maximum capacity for each tender round. The contract is awarded to those who charge the lowest purchase price for the electricity.