Germany needs renewables push to reach targets and avoid prolonged cost crisis – BEE

Germany still needs a bigger push to speed up renewables expansion to avoid a prolonged cost crisis and ensure that the country reaches its targets, said the Renewable Energy Federation (BEE). Condemning the many roadblocks still thwarting the expansion of renewable energy sources, the BEE presented what it describes as an “acceleration package for renewables against the energy crisis”. Only quick and comprehensive investments in domestic renewables can lead the way out of the fossil fuel supply crisis, the organisation stated. “Declining approvals, as seen for onshore wind, an outdated location corset for solar parks or the further underestimated possibilities of biogas do not yet bear witness to the unleashing of the freedom energy sources,” added BEE president Simone Peter. “The price reduction effect of renewables must now be fully exploited," Peter stressed. The BEE’s plan calls for legal requirements that prioritize renewables and an easing of regulations to encourage their expansion. It lists measures that could speed the expansion of wind power, solar photovoltaics (PV), bioenergy, hydropower and green heating.

Some 45 gigwatts (GW) of wind could be repowered over the next three years by easing testing regulations and standardising species protection requirements. To boost PV, more areas must be opened up in the form of an opt-out rule, grid connections must be accelerated and prosuming simplified. In the heating sector, renewables can replace natural gas, oil and coal, Peter said. “The privileging of geothermal and solar thermal energy as well as biogas processing plants in the building code would speed up the allocation of space for heating projects.” The government has ambitious plans to accelerate renewables expansion and decarbonise the heating and transport systems and is aiming to fully enact necessary legal changes by the end of 2022.