The German Federal Cabinet on Wednesday cleared the EEG 2016 bill. Federal Minister Gabriel speaks of a paradigm shift for the renewable’s support. It looks like the government may have a very ambitious timetable in mind to get the bill through the legislative process. Continue reading ‘Federal Cabinet Clears EEG 2016 Bill – Starting the Parliamentary Race to Meet EU State Aid Law Deadlines’
Archive for the 'Wind' Category
Last Sunday at 12:45 it was sunny and windy, and the end of a long holiday weekend. It looks like this resulted in more than 90% renewable energy, a whopping 13.6 GW of power exports, and EPEX spot intraday continuous power prices down to -178.01 EUR/MWh, with a weighted average of -144.78 EUR/MWh during that time.
The EU’s General Court today sided with the Commission’s view that the EEG 2012 involved state aid. It rejected Germany’s arguments to the contrary, seeking annulment of a Commission decision of 25 November 2014 on a scheme for the support of renewable electricity and of energy-intensive users.
Continue reading ‘EU General Court: Germany’s 2012 Renewable Energy Source Act Involves State Aid’
The Bavarian Constitutional Court today decided that the controversial 10h minimum distance requirement for wind power plants in Bavaria is in line with the constitution. Pursuant to the so called 10h-regulation (10H-Regelung) contained in the revised Bavarian Building Code, wind power plants have to maintain a minimum distance from residential housing of ten times the total height of the wind power plant.
Platts is currently holding its 7th Annual European Power Summit in Amsterdam. I had the pleasure of speaking on “Germany: New Market Design Examined“.
Continue reading ‘Platts 7th Annual European Power Summit: Germany – New Market Design Examined’
The Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy has started the consulting process on the 2016 revision of the German Renewable Energy Sources Act EEG. With this bill the government will use auctioning as the standard system to establish support levels for renewable energy, starting mainly in 2017.
On Tuesday, the Bavarian Constitutional Court heard the parties on the controversial 10h minimum distance requirement for wind power plants. Pursuant to the so called 10h-Regulation (10H-Regelung) contained in the revised Bavarian Building Code, wind power plants have to maintain a minimum distance from residential housing of ten times the total height of the wind power plant. Continue reading ‘Bavarian Constitutional Court Hearing on Controversial 10H Minimum Distance Requirement for Wind Power Plants’
The offshore transmission system operators 50Hertz and TenneT have completed offshore grid connections with a capacity of over 4,600 MW in the North Sea and the Baltic Sea. That brings the offshore grid expansion closer to the EEG expansion target of 6,500 MW for offshore wind by 2020. The four TSO have published the new offshore surcharge for 2016 to reallocate expected costs of EUR 162.7 million.
The EEG surcharge for 2016 will increase to 6.354 ct/kWh in 2016, up 3% from 6.17 this year. The grid operators expect to reallocate EUR 22.9 billion of EEG transfer payments, up 5% from last year’s 21.8 EUR billion. If you divide the expected EEG reallocation payments by the German population of 81.2 million, this means about EUR 280 per head.
Continue reading ‘EEG Surcharge Up to 6.354 ct/kWh for 2016 – 7.6% Increase for Core Surcharge’
The Federal Network Agency (BNetzA) has approved 63 of the 92 grid enhancement and grid expansion projects proposed in the Electricity Grid Development Plan (NEP 2014/2024) and the Offshore Grid Development Plan (O-NEP 2014/2024) drafted by the four German transmission system operators. This comprises optimisation and enhancement measures on power lines with a length of 3,050 km and new power lines with a length of 2,750 km. The agency also released the accompanying environmental report 2014.
