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After months of tough negotiations, the majority of economic and energy politicians in the German Bundestag voted a few minutes ago in favor of an immediate abolition without replacement of the otherwise imminent ban on subsidies for new solar power systems. The German Solar Industry Association (BSW) welcomes the decision taken this morning in the leading economic committee to remove the 52 gigawatt solar cap in the Renewable Energy Sources Act (EEG). The BSW expects a corresponding resolution to be passed in tomorrow’s session of the German Bundestag and subsequently in the Bundesrat on July 3. “We are pleased about the great commitment of some economic and environmental politicians on this issue. It’s good that others have jumped over their shadows just in time. They are thus responding to the cross-societal will of an overwhelming majority of the population. The removal of the subsidy cap finally removes one of the biggest barriers to investment in the energy transition. In recent years and months, the solar cap has blocked billions in investments in the solar industry in Germany and caused great damage,” explained BSW Managing Director Carsten Körnig on the occasion of today’s decision. The BSW also called on the German government to follow up today’s amendment to the EEG to abolish the solar cap with a major legislative reform in the fall at the latest. This must be used to abolish further market barriers and significantly accelerate the expansion of photovoltaics and storage.
Only on Monday, Bonn-based market researchers warned of an electricity generation gap in the event that the pace of annual PV expansion is not at least doubled next year and even tripled the year after next (we reported). Körnig: “The statutory photovoltaic expansion targets still remain at the far too low level of 2010, even though the costs of turnkey photovoltaic systems have fallen by more than two thirds since then, a nuclear and coal phase-out has been agreed and the climate targets have been significantly tightened. The solar and storage industry is ready to create 50,000 new jobs in Germany within a few years if this discrepancy is finally eliminated.” The amendment to the EEG now initiated in an amendment to the Building Energy Act (p. 7, Article 8) provides for the subsidy cap for new solar power systems contained in Section 49 (5) and (6) to be deleted without replacement. The BSW has been campaigning vigorously for years for the removal of the market barrier and has initiated numerous open letters, including a constitutional complaint. This will be withdrawn as soon as the law has been passed in the Bundestag. BSW members will be informed as soon as the Bundestag has passed the amendment. According to reports, this will be the case tomorrow evening.