More speed for the renewables - traffic light creates extensive amendments to the law

Created: 07/04/2022 09:23

By: Hannes Koch

The traffic light government wants to speed up the expansion of renewable energies.

© Christian Charisius/dpa

The traffic light government wants to switch to green energies as quickly as possible.

To this end, it has passed extensive legislative amendments.

Berlin – Concern about climate change is one thing, Russia's war in Ukraine is another.

These two motives bring the coalition of SPD*, Greens* and FDP* to accelerate the expansion of renewable energies.

The Federal Cabinet therefore passed five major amendments to the law on Wednesday.

In the next few weeks they will be discussed in the Bundestag and Bundesrat.

Here are explanations of key points.

Traffic light government reacts to Ukraine war: 100 percent green electricity by 2035

By 2030, the traffic light government* wants 80 percent of electricity to come from wind, solar and biomass power plants.

Compared to today, this is a doubling within eight years.

In 13 years (2035) almost all electricity should come from renewable energy sources.

This requires many more wind and solar systems than before.

In the case of wind, for example, ten billion watts of power are planned every year - five times as much as in some previous years.

An important means of achieving these goals: In the future, wind and solar power plants will be "in the overriding public interest" and "serve public safety", as the Federal Ministry of Economics Robert Habeck *defines.

Complaints by nature conservationists or residents in court would have worse chances.

Traffic light government steps on the gas in the energy transition - two percent of the area for wind turbines

Two percent of Germany's area is to be reserved for wind energy*.

So far it's about one percent.

These are average values.

For example, Schleswig-Holstein could provide 2.5 percent of its area, Bavaria only 1.5 percent.

The countries must then comply with this definition.

One variant of the implementation: the federal states decide for themselves. They would then probably make the choice whether they want to approve more wind power plants in previously protected forests, in nature reserves or closer to residential areas.

Bavaria might have to give up its rule that the distance from residential buildings to wind turbines must not be less than ten times their height.

Second variant: The federal government determines the minimum distance between settlements and rotors in the building code.

Federal Council approval might not be required.

More speed for the renewables - homeowners should benefit more from solar roofs

Property owners who feed self-produced electricity from solar roofs into the public grid can look forward to higher remuneration.

This should lead to a boom in roof systems.

So-called citizen energy projects – for example wind farms managed by local residents – are made easier.

Electricity customers are protected from quick cancellations by their providers.

In addition, the traffic light wants to abolish the green electricity surcharge in the electricity bills, which saves average households a good 100 euros a year.

Traffic light government: Acceleration also in power line expansion in Germany

A special topic in Germany is the construction of the power lines, which, for example, direct the wind power from the northern coasts to Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg.

13 years after the resolution on the Energy Line Expansion Act, a third of the lines are still not finished.

Now the government is trying to speed things up again.

In the case of new projects, certain procedural steps are to be dispensed with.

After this Easter package, further amendments to the law are to follow.

Among other things, this involves improving the insulation of new buildings in order to save energy.

Gas heating is to be pushed back and more heat pumps operated with green electricity are to be installed in residential buildings.