OREANDA-NEWS. Germany's third tender for ground-mounted solar photovoltaic (PV) installations cleared at a price of €80/MWh ($86/MWh), grid regulator Bnetza said today.

Bnetza awarded 204MW of ground-mounted PV capacity in the third tender, which was held on the basis of a uniform pricing system and ended on 1 December.

The tender result of €80/MWh was well below the maximum price set at €110.90/MWh and below the prices cleared in the first two tenders held last year. The second tender, which was completed in August and also used the uniform pricing method, cleared at €84.90/MWh, while the first, held in April on a pay-as-bid basis, cleared at €91.70/MWh.

Strong competition in the third tender helped to drive down subsidies awarded to successful bidders, Bnetza said. And while the first two tenders awarded capacity only to dedicated PV project developers, the latest round attracted successful bids from households.

Bnetza will now monitor whether projects are being built at the lower subsidies awarded in the third tender. Successful participants have two years following the tender to develop and complete their PV installations.

Germany's renewable energy act, which came into force in August 2014, paved the way for the launch of pilot tenders for ground-mounted PV capacity last year. Bnetza awarded a combined 521MW of capacity in the first three tenders and aims to award another 400MW in three tenders this year. It will offer 125MW in the first round for which the submission deadline is 1 April, Bnetza said today.

Germany plans to launch tenders for onshore wind and all PV installations with a capacity of more than 1MW from 2017. These tenders will be held on a pay-as-bid basis. Germany will tender 500MW of PV capacity each year from 2017, according to an internal draft paper on the tender design from the economy and energy ministry.

Offshore wind tenders are planned for installations coming on line post-2021.