Plans by Federal Economics Minister Katherina Reiche (CDU) for Germany’s energy supply continue to draw criticism – even within the coalition. Federal Environment Minister Carsten Schneider (SPD) criticized the reform plans for the electricity grids on Wednesday: “I still see considerable room for improvement,” he told the Süddeutsche Zeitung. Green Party leader Felix Banaszak accused Reiche of pursuing “anti-investor policies.”
The criticism concerns the so-called grid package, which aims to better coordinate the expansion of renewable energies with grid expansion. A first draft of the law from the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy already drew criticism in February. Now the bill is entering inter-ministerial consultation with cabinet colleagues – without any significant changes.
The main point of contention is that distribution network operators will be able to shut down new renewable energy plants in certain areas without compensation if grid congestion occurs. Network operators can designate grid areas as “capacity-limited” if they have been overloaded in the past. New plants would then no longer be entitled to be connected to the grid under the previous conditions. The compensation payment to plant operators, which is normally due when a plant is shut down due to grid overload, would be eliminated.
Bild: John MACDOUGALL / AFP
“Under these conditions, planning, financing, and the economically viable operation of new solar projects would be virtually impossible in large parts of Germany,” explained Carsten Körnig, head of the German Solar Association. “At the start of project planning, it would no longer be foreseeable where and to what extent plants will be shut down in the future.”
“With these ludicrous proposals, a whole range of federal states can abandon their expansion targets,” Green Party leader Banaszak told the news portal T-Online. “Not a single wind turbine will be connected to the grid in Schleswig-Holstein, not a single solar plant in Bavaria.”
“It must not happen that the energy transition ends up being slower and more expensive because the law creates new uncertainties,” warned Reiche’s cabinet colleague Schneider. He demanded “full priority for domestic renewable energies.”
The reform of the Renewable Energy Sources Act (EEG) planned by Reiche has also been the subject of much criticism for months. It is intended, in particular, to drastically reduce government subsidies for private solar installations. The guaranteed feed-in tariff for small solar power systems is to be abolished, and operators of small systems will be required to market their electricity themselves. According to the Ministry of Economic Affairs, the reform of the Renewable Energy Sources Act (EEG) is aimed at countering the current “over-subsidization” of new solar power systems.
The German Association of Energy and Water Industries (BDEW) considers the abolition of subsidies “justifiable.” However, it argues that mandatory direct marketing, even for small-scale installations, is practically impossible to implement due to a lack of necessary processes.
The solar company 1Komma5 expressed a similar view: “The traditional feed-in tariff for small-scale installations should be replaced by a technology-neutral, market-based model,” it stated. However, the prerequisites for this system change are not yet in place. The federal government is thus risking “strangling the private energy transition before market-based alternatives can even take effect.”
AFP translated by Blackout News