The upper house of the German parliament, the Bundesrat, has sent a draft bill to the Bundestag – the lower house – that if approved would raise this year’s onshore wind auction volume by 1.4GW.
The draft bill aims to make construction licences mandatory for auction participants in 2018 and 2019 and allow the re-auctioning of capacity that is not developed.
It aims to address concerns within the wind industry about a slowdown in construction towards the end of the decade.
A total of 5.3GW was built in 2017, but only 3.5GW expected this year.
Some 2.8GW of capacity was awarded in last year’s auctions, but timelines are uncertain as all but 100MW was secured by community projects that have until 2021 to build.
The Bundesrat, which represents Germany’s federal states, has approved the bill, but the Bundestag has yet to vote on the proposal.
Image: Pixabay
Berlin mulls onshore boost
By EBS