By Yemi Olakitan
German plans to support the production of solar power and other renewable energy sources have got the backing of the European Commission.
The EU executive arm in a statement said it had also approved subsidies for private households in Germany to sell solar electricity back to the grid.
It added that it will also support another round of state tenders for solar panel systems, and adjustments to the market system for energy producers.
The European Union’s top competition authority said the measures maximise “the contribution from small rooftop solar panels” and help to keep electricity grids stable amid high market prices.
Germany notified the Commission of its plans to adopt three additional measures in the context of its EEG 2021 support scheme approved by the Commission in April 2021 (SA.57779).
The EEG 2021 scheme aims at increasing climate protection and expanding renewable energies.
With the three additional measures, Germany committed to more market-oriented mechanisms for supporting green electricity production, offering tailored measures for different renewable energy sources.
The three additional measures are: A change from a fixed to a sliding market premium in the payment structure for innovation tenders.
This change aims to ensure that electricity producers are not overcompensated in times of high electricity prices.
Producers receive the market premium for the electricity they produce on top of the market price of this electricity.
A fixed market premium means that the premium remains at a constant level, even if energy prices rise or fall, which can lead to overcompensation of producers.
A sliding market premium on the contrary varies depending on the evolution of market prices and only covers the gap between the cost of energy production and its market price.
Secondly, the introduction of financial incentives for consumers to invest in small rooftop solar photovoltaic installations, with a view to feeding more electricity into the grid instead of only using it for self-consumption.
Thirdly, one additional round of ground-based and rooftop solar photovoltaic tenders in 2022.
As the two rounds of tenders for ground-based and rooftop solar photovoltaic already organised in 2022 were undersubscribed, Germany will introduce a revised mechanism.
The new measure improves the competitiveness of the tenders by adjusting the volume of electricity tendered for the additional round (i.e. if there is more volume tendered than bid, all bids can be awarded at the price offered).
