Germany's federal Economy Ministry confirmed in a draft law published this week that the country's first gas plant auction is set for September 2026, tendering 8 GW of gas-fired capacity plus 2 GW of other technologies, all designated hydrogen-ready1. The SPD Environment Ministry has not yet signed off the CDU/CSU-led Economy Ministry draft, but the September 2026 auction date is the new planning horizon, advancing the coalition tension tracked in update #281.
The Kraftwerksstrategie, Germany's long-running gas-plant capacity strategy, has been politically contested since the 2024 SPD-CDU/CSU coalition formed; without it, Germany's residual capacity adequacy through 2030 hangs on extending lignite plants whose retirement schedules are already legislated. Hydrogen-ready means the gas turbines must be capable of conversion to hydrogen feedstock, a capex condition that adds roughly 10 to 15% to overall plant cost and currently has no commercial hydrogen supply chain to convert against.
The September 2026 date is procurement-relevant rather than just political. 8 GW at typical capacity factors is roughly 15 to 20 TWh per year of dispatchable supply, which is the order of magnitude required to anchor the German balance through the second half of the decade as EDF takes Flamanville-3 into a one-year major overhaul in September 2026. Italian, Dutch and central European desks pricing 2027 and 2028 calendar contracts against German power-import availability now have a tender date to mark; whether the SPD signs off determines whether the date holds. The auction's hydrogen-ready specification is the residual political cost: SPD support for any gas-plant build has been conditional on a credible decarbonisation pathway, and the conversion clause is what carries that condition into procurement law.
