France and Germany have both held heavily oversubscribed onshore wind auctions, awarding more than 3 GW of new capacity between them at falling strike prices. Industry body WindEurope said the results show strong competition but also warned that limited auction visibility is forcing developers to rush projects to market.
Onshore wind remains the bulk of new wind capacity in Europe. It accounted for 94% of installations last year and is forecast to make up nearly 80% of additions to 2030. France’s latest round awarded 0.8 GW against 2.4 GW of bids, with the average strike price falling to €77/MWh, around €10/MWh below recent rounds. Repowering projects made up 66% of awards, helped by France’s recent move to simplify permitting for certain repowering.
WindEurope cautioned that the high number of bids reflects France’s low onshore ambitions and a lack of visibility for auctions beyond 2026, which pushed many projects – including some without full permits – to bid now. “France squeezing a big onshore wind pipeline into 2 small auctions this year brings prices down. But what it shows, really, is project developers rushing through the gate,” said WindEurope Chief Policy Officer Pierre Tardieu, calling for genuine multi-year auction planning.
Germany awarded 2.5 GW at an average of €51/MWh, with the lowest bid at €44/MWh, after permitting a record 21 GW of onshore projects last year. WindEurope noted that new German wind is far cheaper than the alternatives cited by Fraunhofer ISE – €139–490/MWh for new nuclear, and higher costs for new gas, hard coal and lignite. But it warned that very high oversubscription can push developers into risky bids they cannot deliver, and urged Berlin to start its announced 12 GW of additional auctions by 2030 to avoid “artificial scarcity.”
The auction dynamics carry lessons for the Baltic region, where governments are scaling up both onshore and offshore wind and where predictable, multi-year auction schedules are increasingly seen as essential to keep costs down and projects moving.
