Renewable Energy Sources Act (EEG)
This Act replaced the law on feeding electricity from renewable resources into the public grid of 1990. The instrumental core of the former Electricity Grid Feed Act has been retained: grid operators must feed renewables-generated electricity into the grid and charge a state-prescribed price for it. However, the regulatory approach has been updated and made more sophisticated under the new Act. The Act aims to generate 35% of electricity supply from renewable energy resources by 2020 (amended from 30% after the Fukushima disaster). Longer term targets include the share of renewable electricity at 40-45% by 2025, 55-60% by 2035 and 80% by 2050.
The 2012 amendment (Act amending the regulatory framework for electricity from PV) introduced monthly tariff degressions in the national feed-in tariff (FiT), replacing the annual FiT cut that typically occurs in January. A EUR50m (USD62.7m) research and development programme for PV storage solutions was also established, started in January 2013.
The 2014 amendment introduced four major changes:
• A deployment corridor for wind, photovoltaics and biomass was set in order to avoid overshoots
• Direct marketing is now mandatory for all new installations (with minor exceptions)
• It lays the foundation for tendering of support from 2017 onwards
• It removes several subsidies and exemption for energy-intensive consumers and “prosumers”
