Germany opens heating transition support scheme to all groups of building owners
Clean Energy Wire / ARD
The latest round of Germany’s heating transition support scheme was launched on 27 August and now allows all building owners to apply for subsidies to decarbonise their heating system, the economy ministry (BMWK) has announced. Companies, landlords of rented family homes and condominium owner communities now are eligible for receiving support by Germany’s state-owned development bank KfW for installing low-carbon heating systems or getting access to existing networks for heat supply, the BMWK said.
The scheme supports buyers by covering 30 percent of investment costs and an additional 5 percent for particularly efficient heat pumps. It also includes a fixed support payment of 2,500 euros for efficient biomass heating systems and a speed bonus if existing gas or oil heating systems are replaced by 2028. Homeowners that live on their own property have been able to apply for a support of up to 70 percent already since February this year, while landlords of condominiums have been able to apply since May. Municipalities will be able to apply for the support scheme by 1 September.
About 93,000 applications have been made between the end of February and late August, the BMWK said. The money is disbursed from Germany’s Climate and Transformation Fund (CTF), which has come under pressure following a court ruling in late 2023 that declared large parts of the earmarked budget as unlawfully booked. However, the government has vowed to ensure that key transformation programmes, such as the heating decarbonisation scheme, will remain unaffected from the resulting budget reshuffling.
Germany’s heating law stipulates that heating systems in new residential developments need to use at least 65 percent renewable energy in operation. Sales of heat pumps have decreased since the support programme was launched. With about 90,000 units sold in the first six months of the year, sales were 54 percent lower than during the same period in 2023. The Federation of German Heating Industry (BDH) said the inclusion of new support groups could bring total sales to about 200,000 heat pumps in 2024, much lower than the target of 500,000 units envisaged by the government, public broadcaster ARD reported.
