Renewable

April 5 (Renewables Now) - Coal-fired power plants with a combined capacity of 1,514 MW will receive compensations from the German government to stop burning coal by December 8, 2021.

Contracts for the one-off payments were secured as part of the second call for tenders under the country’s coal phase-out plan launched last year.

The Federal Network Agency, known in German as the Bundesnetzagentur (BNetzA), announced last week that it has accepted 1,514 MW of bids in the tender round, against a target of 1,500 MW. The capacity came from three bids, the largest one of which came from Uniper Kraftwerke GmbH for 757 MW. Kraftwerk Mehrum GmbH and Central German Braunkohlengesellschaft mbH participated with 690 MW and 67 MW, respectively.

The individual bids in the competitive round ranged from zero to EUR 59,000 (USD 69,336) per MW. The maximum amount that could be sought by the participants was EUR 155,000 per MW.

No proposals were excluded from the bidding process, BNetzA said. The agency noted that the latest round was also open to installations in the south of Germany, which were not eligible to take part in the previous call.

In its first coal phase-out tender, Germany awarded contracts to 4,788 MW of plants that will no longer market their output on the electricity market. The value of bids ranged from EUR 6,047 to EUR 150,000 per MW, versus a cap of EUR 165,000 per MW.

The next call for tenders is scheduled for April 30, 2021.

(EUR 1.0 = USD 1.175)