The German government will run the so-called dynamic auction process for 2500MW of North Sea offshore wind sites after receiving a total of 16 zero-cent offers.
Federal Network Agency BNetzA will run rounds for the 1.5GW N-11.2 and 1GW N-12.3 starting on 17 June after nine subsidy-free entries were filed for the former and seven for the latter.
The zero-cent bids spark the dynamic auction in the German tender process for the non-centrally examined wind farms, with bidding to see developers match lease prices published by BNetzA in a round-robin format until the last player is standing.
Up to 13 bidding rounds will take place daily until a winner is declared. Pricing will start at €30,000 per megawatt. In last year’s dynamic bidding process, the Federal Network Agency awarded bids totalling €12.6 billion for four sites with a total capacity of 7GW.
The proceeds go primarily towards reducing electricity costs as well as marine conservation and the promotion of environmentally friendly fishing.
“The results of the tender are good news for the energy transition in Germany. It is gratifying that companies do not need any funding to expand offshore wind energy. The zero-cent bids make it clear that offshore wind energy is economically attractive,” said BNetzA president Klaus Müller.
“Consumers will be relieved of the costs of offshore connection lines.”