Grid connection: “First come, first served”
Instead of the "first-come, first-served" principle, the "first ready, first served" principle will apply in the future. Greater emphasis will be placed on grid compatibility and the progress of grid expansion.
July 30, 2026
Source: E & M powernews
In addition to the amendment to the Renewable Energy Sources Act (EEG), the government has launched the power grid package. Synchronization, grid connection, and system responsibility are to be integrated into a “coherent whole.”
The grid connection of the future follows an Anglicism. At least according to Federal Minister of Economics Katherina Reiche. In the future, grid connection will no longer be based on “first come, first served,” but rather on “first ready, first served,” said the CDU politician during the presentation of the draft bill for the electricity grid package.
In the 71-page document, the government outlines the transition from the “first come, first served” principle to the “first ready, first served” approach. It specifies how new grid connections will be designed to serve the system’s needs. “This draft bill combines the issues of synchronization, grid connection, and system responsibility into a coherent whole,” Reiche said on July 29 in Berlin.
The electricity grid package is intended to pave the way for prioritizing grid connections. “To this end, we have presented a framework that must be implemented by the grid operators and subsequently by the Federal Network Agency,” the minister said. The scope ranges from legal requirements for grid serviceability to spatial planning designations. That alone, however, is not enough. “We must overhaul the procedures as a whole,” Reiche emphasized. This includes “process improvements, which we also demand from the grid operators.”
Regional Steering Instrument
To harmonize the expansion of renewable energy facilities with grid expansion, the government intends to introduce a regional steering instrument. The goal is to “steer the expansion of renewable energy toward areas where the grid already has capacity.” And if plant operators wish to invest in a grid area and thereby knowingly risk curtailment, they should temporarily forgo subsidies for a certain portion of their capacity.
At the same time, Reiche wants to require grid operators to expand the grid significantly faster than before in areas experiencing bottlenecks. The draft bill contains “many requirements for grid operators to upgrade and expand the grid.” These include the planned six-year time limit—the maximum duration for designation as a capacity-constrained grid area—as well as the cap on financial risk at a maximum of 20 percent of annual electricity yield, or 18 percent in wind priority areas.
Reiche described what “system serviceability” means for new renewable energy plants using the example of ground-mounted PV. The connection of ground-mounted PV will be limited to 70 percent of capacity “to save on grid expansion or, rather, to limit grid expansion to the extent necessary to successfully implement the energy transition.”
In the future, existing grid capacities are to be assessed based on typical feed-in profiles rather than isolated feed-in peaks. “This reduces the need for grid expansion,” according to the ministry.
Author: Manfred Fischer
