The federal government wants to promote the expansion of solar systems. For that are after ARD-Information also planned simplifications for balcony power plants. The cabinet should decide on a corresponding reform tomorrow.
Electricity production with small balcony power plants should become easier. This emerges from a draft law by the Ministry of Economic Affairs, which ARD Capital Studio present. The Federal Cabinet wants to decide on a so-called solar package this Wednesday. The rules could come into force in the new year.
The reform is intended to reduce bureaucracy and further accelerate the recently increasing expansion of solar energy in Germany. With the new rules, more systems could also be built on agricultural land.
database for balcony power plants
The draft provides that balcony photovoltaic systems can be put into operation as easily as possible. Up to now it has been like this: If you want to install a balcony power plant, you have to register it with the network operator. In addition, a so-called bi-directional counter has been required up until now. Both should be gone.
In the future, the balcony power plant should only be entered in a database. For a transitional period, the old non-digital electricity meters can continue to be used, which then simply turn backwards when electricity is fed into the grid from the balcony. So far, anyone with a small solar system can produce 600 watts of electricity – this limit is to be raised to a maximum of 800 watts.
More open space than solar parks
According to the plans, the use of self-generated solar power in apartment buildings should also be simplified. Large systems with a high level of self-consumption should also benefit from the changes to the law in the solar package: the proposal provides that systems with an installed capacity of 100 kilowatts can pass on their excess quantities to the grid operator without remuneration, but also without costs. So far, operators of such systems have been obliged to sell them directly.
In addition, more open spaces are to be used as solar parks. To this end, disadvantaged areas of agriculture should also be opened up for the promotion of photovoltaic systems. The expansion of photovoltaics on agricultural land is to be limited to 80 gigawatts by 2030. The federal states can also put a stop to the expansion if a certain proportion is already being used by photovoltaic systems.
reducing bureaucracy is aimed at
For the first time, the “Practice Check” was also used for the solar package, a new instrument to promote the reduction of bureaucracy. “In Germany, a jungle of bureaucracy has developed over the decades that is difficult to penetrate,” said Economics Minister Robert Habeck. Less bureaucracy could help “unleash” urgently needed investments. When it came to the solar package, those involved encountered a total of 50 bureaucratic obstacles that are now to be removed.
The goal of the government made up of SPD, Greens and FDP is to increase the share of renewable energies in German gross electricity consumption to 80 percent by 2030. According to the ministry, the increase in photovoltaics last year was around 7.5 gigawatts. In the current year, up to July alone, more than 7.5 gigawatts were added, and double-digit growth is expected.
With information from Christopher Jähnert, ARD Capital Studio