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Bundestag revokes deletion of biomethane from the Combined Heat and Power Act

Source: Energy & Management Powernews , December 05 2022

The German parliament has withdrawn the planned removal of biomethane from the Combined Heat and Power Act (KWKG). The industry is relieved.

According to the Federal Association of Combined Heat and Power (B.KWK) in the course of changes in the coal-fired power generation termination law (KVBG) also amended the law on emergency measures for an accelerated expansion of renewable energies and other measures in the power sector and in it the deletion of biomethane from the Combined Heat and Power Act (KWKG), which had been decided in the Easter package, was withdrawn: the relevant article in the Easter package Article 17 number 6 letter a double letter a is thus canceled.

Begründet became this step on the part of the legislator with the fact that the use of biomethane in KWK plants is regarded now nevertheless "as an important component in the decarbonization of local heating networks". By excluding biomethane, the target of increasing the share of renewable heat to 50 percent by 2030 would be much more difficult to achieve.

In the opinion of the B.KWK, this means that a major hurdle for CHP will fall shortly before the end of the year. In the Easter package, CHP plants with biomethane had been excluded from eligibility for funding via the KWKG from 2024. Already in April this year different federations - among them B.KWK, AGFW, Vedec, DVGW, VKU and also the Deneff - had expressed themselves in a recommendation letter to the government clearly against it.

"Our constant efforts of the last months were worthwhile: Biomethane returns finally into the KWKG", said Claus Heinrich steel, president of the B.KWK. He expressed relief at the parliamentary decision to continue promoting biomethane in CHP plants. "We hope that this decision will lead to relief among our members and the industry as a whole and the continuation of their efforts to decarbonize the electricity and heat supply with the help of CHP, and that their planning horizons beyond 2023 will become more secure."

Author: Heidi Roider