2nd report of the federal-state cooperation committee on the expansion of renewable energies published

Source: Energy & Management Powernews, November 02 2022

The second report of the Federal-Länder Cooperation Committee on the expansion of renewable energies has been published and states a great need for acceleration.

Based on the annual reports of the 16 federal states on the status quo of the expansion of renewable energies, the Federal-Länder Cooperation Committee published its status. Included are also area designations, planning and permits for wind turbines on land. The report makes it clear overall that areas and permits must increase, especially for onshore wind power, in order to achieve the expansion targets for renewable energies and the climate goals.

However, mainly figures from 2021 are considered, writes the Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology (BMWK). The new legislative measures adopted in 2022 to accelerate the expansion, which will take effect from 2023, are not yet shown, it said. These included regulatory improvements, such as the introduction of the Wind Area Requirements Act and the amendments to the Building Code through the "Wind on Land Act," the amendments to the Federal Nature Conservation Act, and the major EEG amendment of July 2022.

Slight increase in the expansion of PV and wind power

According to the report, the volume driver in the expansion of renewable energies in Germany is the use of solar and wind energy. In the states, these are photovoltaic (PV) systems and onshore wind turbines. At 1,700 MW gross newly installed plant capacity, the expansion achieved in 2021 for onshore wind energy has increased by around one fifth compared with the previous year's figure. For PV, the newly installed plant capacity of 5,600 MW in 2021 increased by about one-sixth compared to the previous year's value.

As in previous years, the addition of wind and PV followed a north-south gradient. About three quarters (1,254 MW) of the generation-relevant addition of onshore wind energy was registered in the territorial states of Lower Saxony, Brandenburg, North Rhine-Westphalia and Schleswig-Holstein. For PV, almost half (2,784 MW) of the addition was recorded in Bavaria, Baden-Württemberg and North Rhine-Westphalia.

In the summer of 2022, the legislature significantly increased the expansion targets for 2030 for wind and solar power in the EEG. Overall, the share of renewable energies in gross electricity consumption is to rise from 65 percent to 80 percent. To achieve the targets, the pace of expansion must increase significantly, the report cautions.

Net addition of renewable energy plants by federal states in 2021. For full view, please click on the graphic Source: BNetzA

Area designation is progressing slowly

For the expansion of onshore wind energy, between 2,908 and 3,270 square kilometers of area had been legally designated for nationwide as of the reporting date of December 31, 2021. This corresponds to a share of 0.81 to 0.91 percent of the area of the Federal Republic. This means that more than a doubling of the currently designated area is still necessary nationwide to achieve the interim target of 1.4 percent of the federal territory in 2027.

More than three quarters of the approvals took place in Brandenburg, Lower Saxony, North Rhine-Westphalia and Schleswig-Holstein in 2021. Based on the state returns, wind energy projects with a capacity of 8,700 MW were in the approval process as of the reporting date of December 31, 2021. This was significantly less than in 2020 (10,500 MW).

The average duration of the procedure in Germany from the initial submission of the application to the approving body to the granting of the permit is more than two years, which is clearly too long, according to the report.

The Federal-Länder Cooperation Committee is a committee of the federal and state governments provided for in the Renewable Energy Sources Act (EEG), which is tasked with reporting annually on the status of renewable energy expansion in Germany.

The Federal-Länder Report on Renewable Energy Expansion 2021 is available for download as a PDF.

Author: Susanne Harmsen