First details of planned renewables reform leave German energy market innovators unfazed
Clean Energy Wire / Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
The Association of Energy Market Innovators (bne) has warned that the economy ministry’s (BMWi) first draft for a reform of Germany’s main renewables law – the Renewable Energy Act (EEG) – could lack the necessary ambition to reach energy transition targets. The bne noted that based on the first known details, the draft assumes “unrealistic power consumption” levels in 2030 that do not reflect additional needs for e-mobility or green hydrogen production. Thus, the government underestimated the need for additional renewables capacity. The economy ministry told Clean Energy Wire it had worked out a first draft of the law, known as EEG 2021, in which it lays out how wind, solar and other renewable sources will contribute to the government’s target of covering 65 percent of total power consumption by 2030. “We thus create transparency with regard to the concrete annual tender quantities for wind, PV and biomass,” the ministry said. The draft has not been published. The ministry’s planned reform is based on capacity targets approved by the cabinet in its 2030 Climate Action Programme in 2019. Experts have warned, however, that a rising demand will lead Germany towards a renewable power gap. Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reported that the BMWi is planning to focus on regional coordination of new renewables additions to avoid grid congestions.
The economy ministry also published a progress stocktake of the onshore wind power rescue plan it presented in October 2019, after expansion had fallen to its lowest level in 20 years in the first half of that year. Wind power lobby group BWE expressed criticism at the fact that not all points marked as done were actually properly finished.
The government is drafting the reform to implement policy needed to reach 2030 climate targets, as decided with the 2030 Climate Action Programme. The new renewables act draft will soon be subject to inter-ministerial coordination before the cabinet gives the green light and it is sent to parliament.
