Germany wants to ensure more green electricity is “used instead of curtailed” – media

Germany's coalition government is considering steps to enable the use of more green electricity that is currently curtailed due to grid bottlenecks, reports energy and climate newsletter Tagesspiegel Background. The government aims to improve conditions so electrolysers or flexible consumers can benefit from renewable electricity locally at lower prices at times when it would otherwise be curtailed because grids lack the transmission capacity, according to a proposed reform to the country's Energy Industry Act (EnWG), seen by the newsletter. The instrument would start on 1 October 2024 and would oblige transmission system operators (TSOs) to auction off renewable electricity currently not being used due to grid congestion, which should make it much cheaper. "Concerns about abuse are great, so regulation is highly complex," article author Jakob Schlandt wrote.

Germany needs to optimise, reinforce and expand the transmission grid to minimise grid bottlenecks and the throttling of renewable power. In 2022, Germany curtailed around eight terawatt hours (TWh) of renewable electricity due to this issue, according to the federal network agency (BNetzA). The government is envisaging other amendments to the act, including the joint network development planning for natural gas and hydrogen, a move welcomed by local utilities association VKU.