08/17/2023
Source: Energy & Management Powernews
The Federal Cabinet has approved a package of laws to further accelerate the expansion of solar energy in Germany. It applies to private individuals and commercial operators.
With the "solar package", the Federal Cabinet on August 16 approved various legislative changes that are intended to accelerate the expansion of photovoltaics and solar thermal energy. It still has to pass the Bundestag and Bundesrat after the summer break. It is planned that the innovations will come into force from January 1, 2024.
According to the Federal Ministry of Economics, the addition of photovoltaic capacity last year was around 7,500 MW. Accordingly, in the current year, just as much has been added by July alone, which is why a double-digit increase is expected for this year. Federal Economics Minister Robert Habeck (Greens) said, "We need more speed and less bureaucracy in solar expansion, and that's exactly what we're doing with the solar package." The pace, he said, must triple to an annual addition of 22,000 MW by 2026 to achieve the expansion targets.
The regulations of the "solar package"
A PV system on the balcony for a few hundred euros should be possible under the new draft law without registration with the grid operator and with less information in the market master data register, in which plants for gas and electricity generation are registered. Transitionally, according to the plans, the normal meter can also remain in operation, even if it runs backwards when electricity is fed into the grid.
In the longer term, however, a bidirectional meter is to be installed, which will separately register the electricity fed into the grid and the electricity drawn from the grid. Balcony power plants are also to be offered in the future with a Schuko plug, for which the standard is currently being developed by the German Commission for Electrical, Electronic & Information Technologies (DKE).
For the operation of a solar system in a house with several rental or owner-occupied apartments or even commercial tenants, less paperwork is to be involved. Among other things, the detailed requirements for billing, contract information and consumption are to be eliminated. Instead, a new model of "joint building supply" is to be created. It differs from the already established tenant electricity model in terms of subsidies and remuneration.
Solar plants under the tenant electricity model are to be promoted in the future also on commercial buildings and auxiliary plants such as garages, as long as the river does not flow on the way to the consumer by the general electricity net. In addition, the technical requirements for tenant electricity are to be reduced. The subsidy for replacing an existing rooftop solar system with a more powerful one is to be made more attractive.
More modules in peatlands
For area solar systems, a new category is to be introduced for agricultural areas, bodies of water, peatlands and parking lots. This is not intended to increase the total capacity tendered, but more funding is to go to particular installations. Areas with low-yielding soils, which are considered "disadvantaged areas" by EU definition, are to be opened in principle to support for open-space solar installations.
Länder can prevent this if they have already reached certain quotas in solar use of agricultural land or also exclude protected areas. At the same time, there is to be an upper limit of 80,000 MW for the addition of photovoltaics on agricultural land by 2030, at least half of which is to be installed on buildings or noise barriers.
The reform is also expected to create a right to install connection lines for solar and other renewable energy systems on land and transportation routes. Negotiations with each property owner or transportation provider would then no longer be necessary. In return for a lump-sum compensation payment to the property owner, a right of way is to be granted in the future, as already exists in the telecommunications sector or in the construction of high-voltage lines. A newly developed "practice check" is intended to further reduce bureaucratic hurdles. The goal of the federal government consisting of the SPD, Greens and FDP is to increase the share of renewable energies in Germany's gross electricity consumption to 80 percent by 2030. Last year, the figure was just under 50 percent. To achieve this, much more electricity must be produced renewably, for example from the sun and wind.
Author: Susanne Harmsen
Accessibility
Language
