German parliament to pass last-minute energy law reforms ahead of snap election
Clean Energy Wire / Tagesspiegel Background
Germany's parliament is set to pass a package of energy laws after the minority government of the Social Democrats (SPD) and Greens found agreements with the conservative opposition CDU/CSU. The parties agreed on reforms to the Energy Industry Act (EnWG) to address too much solar feed-in at peak times, and future funding for biogas and combined heat and power generation plants, Tagesspiegel Background reported. The laws are set to pass this week, at the last full plenary week ahead of the snap election on 23 February.
"The agreement is good news for the energy transition. With enormous commitment, speed and a great effort on the part of everyone involved, key energy laws have been put in place – a strong signal for the energy supply," said Kerstin Andreae, head of energy industry association BDEW.
"With the new legislative package, we are advancing the energy system of the future by strengthening bioenergy, expanding its role by making it more flexible and offering the combined heat and power sector planning security," said Green party deputy parliamentary group leader Julia Verlinden and spokesperson for budget policy Sven-Christian Kindler in a joint statement. "Solar energy will take on more importance in the future and, with the help of digitalisation, will gradually integrate into our electricity grids better."
Other proposals for energy and climate laws look set to remain unresolved ahead of the elections. This includes a law to help build new gas power plants via auctions for state support, as well as the second round of auctions under Germany's "climate contracts" subsidy scheme to slash industry emissions, and the electricity market reform. German rules dictate that any laws not passed in the current parliament would have to be reintroduced in the next.
