Expansion of renewables in Germany: Fewer bureaucratic hurdles for solar systems

 "Balcony power plants, tenant electricity and Agri-PV: The Economics Minister is legally introducing the first of two solar packages. 

 

One of the promises to private individuals: less bureaucracy.

 

Whenever electricity from renewable energies is mentioned in Germany, it is usually about wind turbines. Where should new wind farms be built, how much distance must be maintained to houses - such questions have recently been at the center of the political debate. 24 percent of the German electricity mix came from wind power last year, after coal this was the second most important type of electricity generation. Economics Minister Robert Habeck (Greens) now wants to push ahead with the expansion of another type of renewable electricity generation: solar energy, which only contributed 10.6 percent to electricity generation in 2022, is to grow. The draft law for the so-called Solar Package I is ready and should soon be passed by the cabinet.

 

The guiding principle is that private individuals should be more involved in the energy transition, regardless of whether they are homeowners or tenants. For example, the installation of a solar system on the balcony should be easier. The previously required registration of the so-called plug-in solar devices with the network operator is to be dispensed with. In the future, only notification to the Federal Network Agency will be required, and the form for this entry in the market master data register will also be simplified. At the same time, the hurdles are to be lowered in order to use the electricity generated from solar energy jointly in an apartment building or a residential complex on site. "A 'communal supply for buildings' will be introduced, which will make it easy to provide joint self-sufficiency with photovoltaics in the future," says the draft, which the F.A.Z. present.

 

No great effort for private individuals

 

Changes are also planned for the "tenant electricity models", these are to be opened. The term tenant electricity refers to electricity that is generated on the roof of a residential building, for example, and that is delivered directly to the end consumer on site without being fed through to the electricity grid. In Germany, with its low ownership rate, these are often tenants. The electricity they do not consume has been fed into the grid and paid for.

 

In the future, it is planned that private individuals will also be able to supply commercial electricity consumers directly with electricity without a great deal of bureaucracy, if the system allows it. In order to prevent possible difficulties, as there has been in the past few months with the heating law, the ministry continues to write in the draft that the models remain voluntary for the tenants. Nobody should be forced to generate electricity.

 

Individual federal states have already increased the incentives: Since February, tenants in Berlin have received a subsidy of 500 euros if they buy a balcony solar system.

 

More agri-PV systems

 

The traffic light coalition has set itself the goal of increasing the share of renewable energies in the electricity mix to 80 percent by 2030. Last year it was 46 percent. At the end of 2022, almost 150 gigawatts of capacity for generating electricity from renewable energies were installed in Germany. Photovoltaics accounted for almost half of this, 67 gigawatts. A spokeswoman for Habeck described the expansion path on Monday as follows: "We want 215 gigawatts of installed photovoltaic capacity by 2030. The annual expansion must therefore be tripled from around seven gigawatts to 22 gigawatts." In May, Habeck's ministry presented the government's new solar strategy. The legal requirements are now to be created, divided into a solar package I and II.

 

All in all, every second new solar panel is to be installed on roofs in the coming years, and the rest on open spaces. In order to keep the additional space requirements under control, there should also be more so-called agri-photovoltaic systems, in which farmers continue to grow fruit or vegetables under the solar modules.

 

Parallel to the laws intended to make the use of photovoltaics easier, the Ministry is also promoting the production of solar systems in Germany. On Friday, the ministry launched a call for companies to express their interest in funding. The Meyer Burger company, which Habeck visited last year during his summer tour near Bitterfeld-Wolfen, has already announced its interest. Managing Director Gunter Erfurt spoke on Monday of an important step "to reduce Germany's massive dependence on the foreign energy supply of the future".