German energy industry calls for ambitious heating package from next government

The new German government after the election on 23 February should implement an ambitious heating package that promotes the expansion of climate-neutral heat supply, said the German Association of Energy and Water Industries (BDEW). The package should include increased funding for energy efficient heating grids and a practical design of the heating supply ordinance, among other things, said Kerstin Andreae, chairwoman of BDEW’s Executive Board. “An important building block for the heating transition has been initiated with municipal heating planning, but there is still a lot to do,” said Andreae. “The aim must be to enable companies and owners to efficiently switch to climate-neutral heat supply.”

Alongside the heating package, BDEW has come up with a broader range of recommendations for the next legislative period. For the electricity sector, the association is calling for support auctions for new gas power plants and an integrated capacity market that creates investment security. For the gas sector, the association wants a practical strategy and a suitable legal framework for the shift towards low-carbon gases like hydrogen. “We need an integrated overall concept that intelligently links the expansion of renewable energies, grids, flexibility and controllable power,” said Andreae.

A point of contention in the upcoming election is the heating law implemented by the outgoing government with the aim of reducing stubbornly high emissions – in their election manifestos, the CDU and FDP say they want to abolish it, but stop short of detailing their exact plans. Four in five residential buildings in Germany are still heated with oil and gas, though 65 percent of new buildings in 2023 had a heat pump as their primary heating system.