Sebastian Grosch knows what a wind turbine means in southern Germany. Maneuvering a rotor blade into the Black Forest instead of installing it somewhere in the northern German lowlands, which costs money. “Either you first have to expand or even build new paths in impassable terrain. Or you need special wagons that erect the rotor blades, some of which are over 80 meters long, so that you can get around bends on the narrow streets.” Grosch is responsible for national project development at the Bremen wind farm company WPD. Grosch wants to illustrate with his example that anyone who wants to build a wind turbine in the south has to get more money for the electricity so that it pays off.
This is what the legislator thought when he introduced a special quota for wind farms in southern Germany in the last amendment to the Renewable Energy Sources Act (EEG): the southern quota. It followed the new logic of the Green Electricity Act, according to which tenders decide on the level of remuneration. All projects can apply for awards that win bids with the lowest claims. Because projects in difficult terrain are neglected with this procedure, 15 percent of the calls for tenders are to be reserved for projects from the south in 2022 and 2023. After all, electricity is also necessary in the south, and the large north-south networks are still missing. There is only one catch: it requires the EU’s state aid approval. And 2022 is not that far away anymore.
In 2020, only twelve new wind turbines were built in Baden-Württemberg
In mid-July, Baden-Württemberg’s Prime Minister Winfried Kretschmann knocked at the Federal Chancellery and asked for support, but according to SZ information, the answer was not particularly productive. In any case, the Chancellor could not offer any short-term approval. In case of doubt, new projects would have to assert themselves in the nationwide competition. This is causing some excitement in Stuttgart. Because Kretschmann is under pressure. He has to keep asking himself why so few wind turbines have been installed in Baden-Württemberg in recent years.
Kretschmann sees the blame for this primarily in Berlin: “With its EEG reform in 2017, the grand coalition ensured that wind power fell drastically throughout Germany and that far too few wind turbines are being built in the south of the country,” he says. “You can’t tie the legs of the countries together and then lament that they aren’t making big leaps.” The southern quota was only created through the use of Baden-Württemberg. The fact that potential investors now have to continue to wait for Brussels is “also fatal from an economic policy point of view.”
At least there is still some time left. The first bid dates for which the southern quota would apply are at the beginning of February for wind projects and at the beginning of March for biomass. According to the responsible ministry of economics, the EU Commission is in “close exchange and negotiations”. These conversations were still ongoing. “However, everyone involved is aware that they must be completed in good time before these bidding dates.”