With the further escalation of sanctions and anti-sanction struggles between Europe and Russia, Germany, which is very dependent on Russia's oil and gas resources, must find better energy alternatives. On Wednesday, the new German government, which has just been in power for more than 100 days, proposed a major energy policy reform plan to accelerate the construction of renewable energy and get rid of its heavy dependence on fossil fuel imports, known as "Germany's largest energy source in decades". Policy Reform".
The 600-page "Easter package" takes wind and solar development "to a whole new level" and declares the installation of renewable energy has "overriding public interest" . The new bill also plans to free up new land for green electricity production, speed up the permitting process, and significantly increase wind and solar capacity to achieve nearly 100 percent renewable energy supply by 2035.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said that with the "Easter Package", we showed what we intend to do. Now, more than ever, we will need independence from fossil resource use. This is our task. "
At the heart of the reform is the Renewable Energy Act (EEG), a 22-year-old law that has increased the share of renewable energy in Germany to nearly 45 percent. In the new bill, a higher capacity target is proposed for renewable energy, that is, the proportion of renewable energy will reach 80% (about 600 terawatt-hours) by 2030 and 100% by 2035.
At the same time, the new bill proposes specific targets for wind power and solar development respectively. By 2030, the installed capacity of onshore wind power should reach 115GW. Offshore wind must also ramp up to at least 30GW by 2030, 40GW by 2035 and 70GW by 2045.
The target for solar is even more ambitious: to nearly quadruple existing capacity to 215GW over the next decade. Solar PV installations will reach 22GW per year by 2026 and 215GW by 2030. In addition, the government wants to simplify the planning and approval process to push ahead with grid expansion.
Given the war in Ukraine and the urgent need to get rid of imported fossil fuels, the German government has raised its target again compared with the first proposal, which was presented in February 2022.
However, with the current long approval process and timeframe, achieving the new goals will not be easy. Taking wind power as an example, Germany currently has about 56.2GW of installed onshore wind power and 7.7GW of offshore wind power. The new onshore wind target calls for the installation of 10GW per year starting in 2025. To achieve this, the new government says it will simplify the permitting process, increase the volume of tenders and speed up the construction of grid and transmission infrastructure.
The German wind energy association BWE has warned that the government must now deliver on its commitments in the revision of laws and energy programmes in the future. To ensure that these ambitious growth scenarios are not hindered by lengthy planning processes and inconsistencies with other protected goals, the government has established the principle that the use of renewable energy is an overriding public interest. The federal government plans to introduce an additional legislative package this summer to address barriers to onshore wind.
German Economy Minister Robert Habeck acknowledged the enormity of the task. “The Russian-Ukrainian conflict has exacerbated the worsening climate crisis, and the passage of the plan and the expansion of renewable energy are now more urgent, highlighting the threat to Germany’s energy and economic security from fossil fuel import dependence. Germany may have to use more homegrown coal to fill the short-term gap created by lower Russian energy imports. Still, the government has managed to significantly reduce purchases of Russian coal, oil and gas in recent months, with plans to stop this year Import oil and coal from Russia and stop importing natural gas in mid-2024.”
“We need to triple the rate of renewable energy expansion and nearly double the share of renewable energy in total electricity consumption in less than a decade.” Harbeck said the new package includes a renewable energy law (EEG), the Offshore Wind Law, the Energy Industry Law and legislation to accelerate the construction of the transmission grid, among other draft reforms. Further measures will be agreed in the coming months, and a package will be tabled in parliament and could be passed in the first half of 2022.