Solar PV tender market in Germany 2026: pipeline, EEG outlook, grid queue

Germany is the single most-tendered Solar market on ORBID by MWp. Here's what developers and EPCs working German projects should be tracking right now.

Auction calendar

BNetzA has scheduled six Solar tenders for 2026, evenly split between ground-mounted (Segment 1) and roof-mounted (Segment 2). The first round closed in February at an average award price of 5.41 ct/kWh — modestly down on H2 2025 but the volume-weighted ceiling held, which matters more than the headline number. Segment 1 is still oversubscribed; Segment 2 is meaningfully softer.

The Innovationsausschreibung (Solar+BESS hybrid auction) is the interesting one. Award prices are running materially above standalone Solar — the hybrid premium is real, and our read is that it will persist through at least 2027 as BESS supply chains catch up.

Grid queue

The TenneT and 50Hertz interconnect queues are the structural bottleneck. We're consistently seeing 24–36 month wait times for new HV connections in the east, and even longer where MV+HV uprates are required. The Bundesnetzagentur's Q1 2026 quarterly note flagged the queue at over 200 GW across the four TSOs — the cleanup process under the EnLAG amendments is making slow progress.

What this means in practice for EPCs:

• Projects with secured grid connection trade at material premium. We see this clearly in tender bid quality — the same EPC will price 10–15% tighter on a project that already has a Netzanschlusszusage vs one that doesn't.
• Repowering of existing sites is the fastest-moving subsegment. No new grid application needed, modest module + inverter swap, bankable in months not years.

EEG outlook

The 2026 EEG amendment package goes to the Bundestag in autumn. The draft we've seen tightens the bidder-qualification requirements in ways that will favour established EPCs — bid bonds rising, financial- capacity thresholds rising, more aggressive penalty for project non-realisation. The "long tail" of marginal bidders is going to get squeezed out.

Our take

If you're a developer with German pipeline: prioritise getting grid applications in the queue before the EEG changes land. If you're an EPC: now is the time to build the track record that the new qualification bar will reward — verified references, particularly on repowering and hybrid projects, will be worth a lot in the post- amendment world.