German wind FiT falls by 2.4% in Q3 after 4.7 GW of installs

The fixed preferential tariffs for new onshore wind power capacity in Germany will be reduced by 2.4% from October 1 as installations over the last 12 months were above the government-set corridor.

The country’s wind power capacity grew by 4,676 MW between May 2016 and April 2017, the Federal Network Agency (Bundesnetzagetur) said Wednesday. Capacity additions significantly above 3,500 MW trigger the highest level of degression.

The level of wind power subsidy for every quarter is determined by 12-month installations, and it can even increase if deployment is low.

The German Wind Energy Association (BWE) said in March that nearly 8.4 GW of projects have been approved before the end of 2016 and can be realised in 2017 and 2018 without the need to compete in tenders. This means that deployment will remain strong and the quarterly feed-in tariff (FiT) rates will remain on the slide.

BWE in March said the fixed rates will be falling fast from EUR 0.0838 (USD 0.094) per kWh at the start of 2017, to EUR 0.0749/kWh from January 1, 2018, and then to EUR 0.0697/kWh from October 1, 2018. Even at that level, the FiT remains much higher than the rates achieved in the country’s first onshore wind tender, completed in May. It awarded contracts for 807 MW of capacity at an average rate of EUR 0.0571 per kWh.

From the start of 2017, new solar and wind projects bigger than 750 kW have to compete in tenders to secure power purchase deals, as feed-in tariff (FiT) contracts are no longer available for big installations.

(EUR 1 = USD 1.12)

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