Agreement with EU Commission clears way for German power market reform

The German government and the EU Commission have reached an agreement on state-aid related aspects of the country’s power market, clearing the way for the “most important reform” since the market liberalisation, German energy minister Sigmar Gabriel told a press conference on Tuesday. The agreement mainly affects Germany’s new power market law, the Renewable Energy Act (EEG) and the combined heat and power (CHP) law. It includes the approval of exemptions from the renewables surcharge for power produced by industry for self-consumption with existing plants, unless those facilities are modernised “substantially”. The new law regulating state support for combined heat and power plants will be changed following the agreement, to include tenders for new or modernised facilities with a capacity of 1-50 megawatts.

Read the government’s press release on the agreement here.

Find background in the CLEW dossier on the power market reform and the reform of the Renewable Energy Act and the story on the new combined heat and power law.