In the first half of 2018, capacity for land-based WTGs was granted in two tendering rounds in which a total of 1,313 MW was awarded. The February 2018 tendering round, during which 709 MW was awarded, was oversold by a factor of 1.4. In comparison, the May 2018 tendering round had all of its valid tenders awarded, since this round undersold with submitted tenders for 604 MW. In an additional cross-technology tendering round, in which wind energy competed with photovoltaic systems, WTGs did not receive any bid acceptance. The WTGs that had received acceptance in the first half of 2018 all had permits according to the Federal Emissions Control Act (BImSchG) and should be realized within 30 months by August and November 2020, respectively.
Two additional tendering rounds for land-based wind energy will be conducted during the remainder of 2018 where a capacity of about 670 MW each is anticipated to be awarded. This is equivalent to the legally designated volume minus the capacity of pilot WTGs that became operational in the previous year. The two tendering rounds to occur in August and November 2018 are only accessible to projects for which BImSchG permits had already been granted. According to the German Federal Network Agency (BNetzA), permits for 1,288 MW have been registered that qualify for the third round of 2018. This includes WTGs that waived participation in the transitional system or turbines that were registered late in the WTG Register with regard to the qualification for the transitional system, as well as WTGs with 2017 and 2018 permits, registered with BNetzA and not yet awarded or assigned to an award.
