Tagesspiegel Background, dpa, MDR
Germany’s 16 federal states are pushing back against plans by the country’s federal economy and energy minister Katherina Reiche, a member of Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s CDU, to phase out subsidies for small-scale rooftop PV solar installations from next year, Tagesspiegel Background reported. At a conference held on the North Sea island of Norderney, the state energy ministers unanimously affirmed their commitment to the energy transition and the continued expansion of renewables, stressing that rooftop solar systems were a key component of the energy transition.Lower Saxony energy minister Christian Meyer, a Green party member who hosted the conference, said there was complete consensus among the states on this issue: "We want to stay the course, and that is the broad consensus across party lines." Last week, the country’s renewable industry warned that Reiche’s proposed rules, such as scrapping support for small rooftop-solar projects and other steps, would deter private citizens and large-scale investors alike and could make many renewable projects impossible to fund. Renewable industry association BEE said the ministry was putting renewables at a disadvantage across the board while prioritising fossil fuel use. Environmental groups have also called on the government to continue support for household solar systems.Tobias Goldschmidt, Schleswig-Holstein’s energy transition minister and also a member of the Greens, expressed his opposition to federal considerations to shift the primary focus more heavily toward large-scale ground-mounted solar farms. "We want to see continued subsidies for small-scale rooftop solar systems," he said.Reiche also faced opposition to other parts of her reform plans from the state ministers, including other measures aimed at better coordinating the expansion of wind and solar facilities with grid expansion to reduce costs. According to the draft legislation, operators of new renewable energy facilities located in congested grid areas would no longer be able to receive compensation if they are required to shut down their solar or wind power plants due to the threat of grid overload. Until now, operators have been entitled to compensation in such cases.“We unanimously agreed that this proposal is not the right way forward for us,” Meyer said. “We want a successful energy transition. And if there is a lot of surplus energy there, then we must ensure that the expansion of the grid is accelerated.”Reiche and Social Democrat (SPD) buildings minister Verena Hubertz last week also faced resistance from several German states to a draft law they put forward aimed at relaxing decarbonisation rules in the heating sector.
