| Focus on Germany Easter boost for renewables
The coalition of Social Democrats (SPD), Greens and Free Democrats (FDP) aims to lift the rollout of wind and solar power in Germany “to a completely new level” according to a draft law known as the Easter Package. It aims to achieve a nearly 100% renewable power supply by 2035
Kerstine Appunn and Julian Wettengel, Clean Energy Wire, Berlin
After little more than 100 days in office, Germany’s new government presented (on 7 April) what it calls the “biggest energy policy reform in decades”. to massively increase the buildout of renewables. The coalition partners SPD, Green Party and FDP say the more than 500-page so-called “Easter Package” of reform proposals tackles not only the climate crisis, but helps the country in its efforts to become independent of Russian fossil fuels. Chancellor Olaf Scholz highlighted this double benefit of Germany’s goal to become climate- neutral by 2045 with the help of renewables. The package is a “very important contribution” to these goals, said Scholz in the Bundestag during parliamentary questions. “With the ‘Easter Package’ we are showing what we intend to do. Now more than ever, we will become independent of the use of fossil resources. That is our task.”
The Easter Package is part of a comprehensive programme of climate action measures the parties had promised for 2022 in last year’s coalition treaty. However, Russia’s war against Ukraine has added a sense of urgency to not only getting Germany’s policy back on track to reaching climate targets, but also becoming independent of fossil fuel imports as quickly as possible. The government said it sees renewable energies as “a matter of national security.” The economy ministry has said it will introduce a second package of legislative reforms by the summer. The package includes draft reforms of the Renewable Energy Act (EEG), the offshore wind law, the energy industry law and legislation to
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2022 2023 2024 2025 2026 2027 2028 2029 2030 2031 2032 2033 2034 2035 Onshore wind
Solar PV Above: Annual onshore wind and PV capacity additions proposed in the Easter Package
speed up power transmission grid development. The package will now be sent to parliament and it could be adopted as soon as the first half of 2022. Germany’s energy industry association BDEW said the legislative drafts contained important decisions for the expansion of renewables in Germany, such as raised tender volumes for wind and solar and the introduction of contracts for difference (CfD). “It must be clear to all ministries involved and all levels – be it federal or state – that the expansion of renewable energies is the order of the day, not only for climate protection but also to become less dependent on fossil energy imports”, said BDEW head Kerstin Andreae.
There could however be a big hurdle facing the package in the legislative process. The pro-business Free Democrats said their formal agreement to the package in cabinet is meant to get the process going. However, “deviations from the coalition agreement (eg, climate- neutral electricity system by 2035, and CfD) must be corrected in parliament,” wrote deputy parliamentary group leader Lukas Köhler in a message on Twitter.
The focus of the reforms is amendment of the Renewable Energy Act (EEG) – the now 22-year-old legislation that enabled the share of renewable power to grow to almost 45%. Most
New rules for solar PV ● Expansion targets and
Some of the proposed new rules governing renewables development, in the Easter Package will be gradually reduced.
tender volumes will be divided equally between rooftops and open spaces.
● Higher remuneration for small rooftop installations (outside the tendering scheme).
● New rooftop installations that feed all their power into the grid receive higher subsidies than operators who consume part of the electricity themselves.
● Remuneration degression will be paused until the beginning of 2024; afterwards degression will be biannual.
● Agri PV and moorland PV installations to receive a bonus payment to make them more competitive.
New rules for biomass ● Bioenergy subsidies will
focus on highly flexible power stations.
● Tender volumes for biomass
● Tender volumes for biomethane will be increased to 600 MW per year as of 2023.
● Biomethane may only be used in highly flexible power stations.
New rules for offshore wind ● Funding via contracts for
difference (CfD) will be established for the tendering process of pre-surveyed areas. The lowest bid
receives a CfD for a 20-year term, which will reduce the financing needs for the offshore wind park and at the same time skim off the excess returns for the operators in times of high market prices.
● CfD revenues flow into the EEG account and relieve the budget. Offshore expansion will happen without subsidies in the foreseeable future.
● Faster planning permission and grid connection.
www.modernpowersystems.com | May 2022 | 21
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