Germany launches third rooftop solar PV tender of 2026, aims for 296MW of capacity

Germany’s federal network agency (Bundesnetzagentur) has launched its third rooftop solar PV tender of the year, which aims to award 296.3MW of new rooftop solar capacity.

The maximum bidding price has been set at €0.10/kWh (US$0.12/kWh) and bidders will have to pay for bids made. Both components remain unchanged from the two earlier rooftop solar tenders launched this year, one in February and one in June, which sought to tender 282.7MW and 296.3MW of new capacity, respectively.

However, both of these tenders were undersubscribed. The first tender saw just 155MW of new capacity awarded, from a total bid capacity of 177MW, while the second tender awarded 208.5MW. Between these two tenders, the average volume-weighted winning bid increased from €0.0956/kWh to €0.0972/kWh, while the number of successful bids increased from 85 to 108.

While Germany’s rooftop solar tenders have been undersubscribed this year, its utility-scale tenders have been oversubscribed; in August, the Bundesnetzagentur received more than 3GW of bids in its latest utility-scale tender, and awarded contracts to 261 bids for the full 2.1GW of capacity.

The government plans to launch a third utility-scale solar tender in December, bringing the total utility-scale solar capacity tendered above 6GW, which would make up for some of the shortfall in the rooftop solar space. Across the two rooftop solar tenders completed so far this year, the government has awarded 363.5MW out of a maximum available capacity of 579MW.

This disparity in interest in solar tenders comes as Germany posts new solar output records. Figures from the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems (ISE) show that in the first half of the year, German solar PV generation increased by 10% year-on-year and exceeded 40TWh for the first time on record.

The same figures show that ground-mount solar contributed to the majority of this growth, with 3.5GW of new ground-mount capacity additions between the first half of 2025 and the first half of 2026, compared to 2.1GW of new rooftop capacity between these periods.

European Commission to rule on Solarpaket in relation to state aid limits

It is worth noting, however, that the Bundesnetzagentur is keen to expand its rooftop solar tenders further under the Solarpaket reforms introduced in 2024. Under these reforms, the government aims to increase the total rooftop solar capacity awarded annually through tenders to 2.6GW, up from the current target of 1.1GW.

However, the government is waiting on a decision from the European Commission that the Solarpaket reforms do not violate its “state aid” rules, which are put in place to prevent companies from gaining an unfair “advantage” by receiving government support for a project.

The Bundesnetzagentur noted that the commission is currently considering its latest tender with regard to state aid rules, and if a decision is not reached by 30 September, the day before the bidding deadline of 1 October, the tender will continue with 296.3MW of capacity on offer and a minimum bid size of 1MW.