Reform of renewables law delayed again

The reform of the Renewable Energy Act (EEG) was postponed for the third week in a row on Wednesday. The changes proposed to Germany’s renewables law, which enabled the rapid growth of solar, wind and biogas generated power, are subject to disagreements between the environment and the energy ministry. While the energy ministry wants to only include the most pressing fixes, i.e. changes to the auction design for wind installations, the environment ministry pushes for incorporating additional auctions (laid out in the coalition treaty) that are to increase the share of renewables to 65 percent by 2030. Matthias Zelinger from the German Engineering Federation (VDMA) said that the current problem was mixing up undisputed corrections to the EEG that were necessary as quickly as possible with future policies from the coalition treaty. “Further delays will be negative for the returns and jobs in the German wind industry,” Zelinger said in a press statement.

Read a CLEW dossier on the Renewable Energy Act here.

Read a CLEW dossier on onshore wind power here.