The cost of onshore wind energy continues to drop sharply, with the latest auction results from Germany suggesting costs for new projects have dropped by a quarter since May.
The results from the latest German government tender for new onshore wind projects reveal the price per kilowatt hour for onshore turbines fell from an average of 5.71 euro cents at the last contest in May to 4.28 euro cents in August.
The results, released by the regulator Bnetza on Tuesday, saw Germany issue licenses for 1GW of new onshore capacity.
The auction is the second under a new licensing system introduced this year to intensify competition among developers and drive the costs of wind energy down even further.
Rather than agree a fixed price contract, the new regime issues licenses only for those projects which will accept the lowest possible subsidy within a fixed capacity.
Around 90 per cent of the winning bids came from citizen groups, which are favoured under the new system.
“The second round of tenders, too, was characterized by high competition,” Bnetza president Jochen Homann said in a statement. “Compared with the first round, the average price at which projects were awarded fell by more than one euro cent per kilowatt hour.”
Source: businessgreen.com
