Germany scraps 52 GW solar cap, avoids onshore wind distance rule

Germany's parliament has removed the 52 GW solar cap from the renewable energy law (EEG) that would have stopped subsidies for roof-top projects once the ceiling was reached later this summer, solar lobby BSW said June 19.

The Bundestag also approved regulation that allows federal states to set their own rules regarding a minimum distance for onshore wind turbines to housing rather than apply a nationwide 1-kilometer rule that would have hampered growth in many regions, wind lobby BWE added.

Both rulings were part of a wider reform debate of the EEG still to come this autumn, but remove near-term obstacles to revive growth for both solar and onshore wind.

Total installed solar capacity rose to 50.7 GW by end-April with 1.5 GW installed in the first four months of 2020.

Annual growth is still well below the 2010-12 boom when 7 GW were added annually leading to the 52 GW ceiling enshrined in law in 2013 amid sharp cuts to feed-in-tariffs as solar panel prices plunged.

Roof-top projects up to 0.75 MW still require substantially higher feed-in-tariffs than ground-based projects and would have no longer been eligible for funding if the ruling was maintained.

Larger ground-based projects compete in tenders for support contracts with average prices halving to around Eur50/MWh since the initial tender in 2015 and some very large utility scale project no longer requiring support.

Onshore wind capacity additions, meanwhile, continue to lag government targets with only 0.5 GW added in the first four months after a wind boom ahead of a change to tenders from 2017 doubled installed capacity to over 60 GW in just six years.

However, approvals for new onshore projects have come to a near standstill since 2019 amid a number of planning as well as grid issues.

Wind power topped Germany's power mix for the first time in 2019 and is dominating 2020 again despite an extended lull this spring, when solar generation reached new records.

Combined wind and solar generations for the year to date is close to 100 TWh, more than double Germany's combined hard-coal/lignite coal generation, TSO data show.

Wind and solar installations would need to pick up strongly to reach the government's 2030 target of a 65% share of renewables in the power mix with utility lobby BDEW estimating June 17 that 117 GW new renewable capacity would be required this decade.

First generation wind and solar installations also reach the end of their 20-year-support contracts under the EEG from next year onwards.