German Renewable Energy Sources Act
| Renewable Energy Sources Act (2014) | |
|---|---|
| Act for the development of renewable energy sources (previously: Act on granting priority to renewable energy sources) |
|
| Date commenced | 1 August 2014 |
| Summary | |
| The 2014 act governs the transition from a feed-in tariff scheme to an auction system for most renewable electricity sources, covering wind power, photovoltaics, biomass (including cogeneration), hydroelectricity, and geothermal energy. | |
The Renewable Energy Sources Act or EEG (German: Erneuerbare-Energien-Gesetz) is a series of German laws that originally provided a feed-in tariff (FIT) scheme to encourage the generation of renewable electricity. The EEG 2014 specified the transition to an auction system for most technologies which has been finished with the current version EEG 2017.
The EEG first came into force on 1 April 2000 and has been modified several times since. The original legislation guaranteed a grid connection, preferential dispatch, and a government-set feed-in tariff for 20 years, dependant on the technology and size of project. The scheme was funded by a surcharge on electricity consumers, with electricity-intensive manufacturers and the railways later being required to contribute as little as 0.05 ¢/kWh. For 2017, the unabated EEG surcharge is 6.88 ¢/kWh.
The EEG was preceded by the Electricity Feed-in Act (1991) which entered into force on 1 January 1991. This law initiated the first green electricity feed-in tariff scheme in the world. The original EEG is credited with a rapid uptake of wind power and photovoltaics (PV) and is regarded nationally and internationally as an innovative and successful energy policy measure. The act also covers biomass (including cogeneration), hydroelectricity, and geothermal energy.
A significant revision to the EEG came into effect on 1 August 2014. The prescribed feed-in tariffs will soon be gone for most technologies. Specific deployment corridors now stipulate the extent to which renewable electricity is to be expanded in the future and the funding rates will no longer be set by the government, but will be determined by auction. Plant operators will market their production directly and will receive a market premium to make up the difference between the their bid price and the average monthly spot market price for electricity. The EEG surcharge remains in place to cover this shortfall. This new system is being rolled out in stages, starting with ground-mounted photovoltaics. More legislative revisions are scheduled for introduction on 1 January 2017.
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