Bundesnetzagentur (BNetzA), Germany's federal network regulator, opened the first 4.5 GW StromVKG capacity auction on 21 July, bids due 8 September1. StromVKG, the German capacity-market law, covers dispatchable gas and long-duration storage of ten hours or more on 15-year contracts. BNetzA opened it without EU state-aid clearance and without Berlin consulting Brussels first.
BNetzA had itself confirmed the clearance gap on 10 July, nine days before opening bids into it; the law had passed on 9 July with a 41% higher bid ceiling. BNetzA president Klaus Mueller said the auctions would run "as quickly and carefully as possible"2.
A gas plant that cannot clear on the spot spark needs a capacity payment to stay in the mix, and StromVKG backstops precisely the merchant-signal failure the German injection stall now documents. Fifteen-year commitments signed from 8 September carry clawback risk if the Commission later refuses clearance. Some counsel argue the scheme's levy-based financing may not involve state resources at all, which would place it outside Article 107 review and moot the pending-clearance risk entirely. Should the Commission instead judge the levy to draw on state resources, every contract awarded from 8 September falls back into Article 107 exposure.
