German Solar association criticizes government’s PV plans

The German solar industry association BSW (Bundesverband Solarwirtschaft) has announced a »considerable need for improvement« in the government’s current draft bill to reform the country’s Renewable Energy Law (Erneuerbare-Energien-Gesetz, EEG). In the draft bill presented last week by the responsible Federal Ministry of Economics and Climate Protection, the BSW sees deficiencies particularly in the feed-in-tariffs for rooftop systems and the plan of areas to be utilized for ground-mounted solar power plants.
The draft proposes to to largely maintain the remuneration for rooftop systems while suspending their periodical reduction (degression) this year and slow it down from 2023. According to the BSW, this is »insufficient to encourage enough companies and consumers to retrofit their roofs with solar technology« in line with the German government’s plans to expand photovoltaics. Germany aims to have a total of 300 gigawatts of PV connected to the grid by 2035 (our news item from February 28).
In the case of large solar power plants, the BSW expressly welcomes the planned increase in the volume of tenders, but calls for corresponding changes in the planning law framework. For the dual use of agricultural land for solar power generation (Agri-PV), the association calls for the implementation of separate tenders beyond the planned facilitations, in order to do justice to the higher costs of such plants.
© PHOTON