German onshore wind clears at 4.79 ct/kWh, the third fall of 2026

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Germany's August onshore wind auction cleared at a volume-weighted average of 4.79 ct/kWh, down from 5.06 ct/kWh in May and 5.54 ct/kWh in February. The Bundesnetzagentur published the awards on 17 September. The result marks the third consecutive fall in the clearing value this year. Winning bids ranged from 4.49 to 4.98 ct/kWh, all well beneath the 7.25 ct/kWh ceiling set for the round.

The round was heavily oversubscribed. Developers submitted 461 bids for 5,250 MW against a tendered volume of 2,520 MW, so demand for support ran at roughly twice the offered capacity. The regulator awarded 237 bids for 2,523 MW, essentially the full volume on offer. It excluded 17 bids totalling 247 MW. The tender volume was not reduced, which means the fall in price came from competition among qualified projects rather than from a thinner field.

For operators, the signal is that the marginal German onshore wind project is now willing to accept a supported price close to 4.8 ct/kWh over a fixed period. A clearing value more than a third below the ceiling shows the constraint on new build is no longer the level of support on offer. Projects that hold a permit and a grid position are competing hard on price. The winning band has compressed to a range of half a cent.

That pricing reshapes the choice between the supported route and a merchant or PPA structure. A project able to secure a firm offtake above the auction clearing level, after accounting for negative price risk, curtailment risk and balancing risk, has a case for staying out of the auction. The auction result gives operators a current, official benchmark for that comparison. The continued decline suggests the supported floor will keep moving down as the pipeline of permitted projects deepens.

The next onshore wind bidding round closes later in 2026, the last of four annual rounds sharing a 10,000 MW volume. On the evidence of the year so far, a further move down in the clearing value is the base case rather than the exception.

If you are weighing a supported bid against a merchant or PPA route for a German onshore wind asset, our PPA benchmarking and market data through SEMT can frame that comparison. You can request access at https://synertics.io/signup/ or reach us at info@synertics.io.