Germany’s renewable energy sector takes to the streets. Protests planned against reforms to the EEG and the power grid

A coalition of industry associations, companies, workers and non-governmental organizations is calling for a demonstration in Berlin against planned amendments to Germany’s Renewable Energy Sources Act (EEG) and a new grid connection package. According to industry representatives, the reforms currently being debated in the Bundestag threaten to slow down Germany’s energy transition.

Key provisions of the reform and industry criticism

The draft EEG reform and grid package were approved by the German government in July. Although they officially maintain the target of achieving an 80% share of renewable energy in electricity consumption by 2030, they introduce a number of provisions that could negatively affect new investments. These include:

• Removal of support for small rooftop installations – the elimination of existing incentives for residential solar photovoltaic systems in favor of a greater focus on large-scale ground-mounted solar farms.
• No compensation for curtailment – the abolition of compensation for investors when electricity generation is restricted due to grid congestion in so-called hotspots – areas where the infrastructure cannot accommodate the electricity generated by wind and solar installations.
• Proposed redispatch reserve – the German Solar Industry Association warns that these provisions could effectively turn areas experiencing periodic grid bottlenecks into exclusion zones for the development of new solar farms.

The German Renewable Energy Federation emphasizes that the prolonged legislative process and harmful provisions have already created significant market uncertainty, with many projects put on hold and investors withholding capital.

Eight hundred kilometers from Berlin, workers in the sector are already feeling the negative effects of government policy. Michael Raschemann, CEO of renewable energy developer Energiequelle, reported that the company has already had to reduce its workforce in Germany by 40%.

Government rejects amendments as industry proposes alternatives

The immediate trigger for organizing the demonstration scheduled for October 9 in Berlin was the government’s decision to categorically reject as many as 70 amendments and proposed changes to the draft legislation submitted by the Bundesrat.

BSW-Solar is urging lawmakers to change course. Instead of blocking new investments in areas with weaker grid infrastructure, the organization proposes:

• Accelerating the expansion and full digitalization of the electricity grid.
• Making intelligent use of existing grid capacity through large-scale energy storage systems and increasing the flexibility of the entire power system.