Germany contracts 5.2 GW of capacity at 155,000 euros per MW a year

The Bundesnetzagentur, Germany's grid regulator, has concluded its first long-term capacity auction: 11 winning bids, about 5,160 MW of de-rated capacity against 4,500 MW tendered, and a volume-weighted average of 155,296 euros per MW a year, below the 244,000 cap. Hydrogen Insight highlights RWE and LEAG among the winners, hydrogen-ready plants and capacity available from 2031.

There were 41 bids, totalling about 11,958 MW. According to the agency, competition between power plants and storage pushed values down, and the second round will be announced on 10 November 2026.

The asset horizon is the sensitive point. Germany's Climate Protection Act sets, in Section 3(2), net greenhouse gas neutrality by 2045, fourteen years after these plants come online. Their value at that date depends on the fuel they can burn.

That is why hydrogen capability weighs more than a label: it preserves residual value in a plant built now. For turbine and hydrogen suppliers, conversion becomes the next market to watch.