Bundesnetzagentur, Germany's federal network regulator, states on its own StromVKG auction page, last revised 10 July, that European Commission state-aid approval for the capacity auctions has not been granted1. The 2026 programme runs 9 GW across two auctions of 4.5 GW each2.
StromVKG, the German capacity-payment law, passed on 9 July with a 41% higher bid ceiling and a new locational split. Capacity payments compensate generators for being available rather than for output, and because they route public money to private plant they require clearance from Brussels before they can lawfully pay anybody. That clearance sits with the Commission, which decides on its own timetable rather than Berlin's.
The desk has carried the autumn auction date as settled since the law cleared parliament. The regulator now says on the record that the authorisation underneath it has not arrived, which is a different position from the one the market has been trading. No outlet appears to have picked this up, and the statement sits in plain sight on the page that publishes the auction terms.
The desk is withholding Bundesnetzagentur's bid-deadline dates this week. The secondary trackers contradict the primary page, and one extracted set of dates predates the law's own 9 July passage, which is a good enough reason to trust none of them until Bundesnetzagentur restates the calendar itself.
