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In 2022, the proportion of gross electricity consumption covered by renewable energy rose significantly, from 40% to around 46% (provisional estimate).

Germany achieved its energy targets for last year. In 2023, however, the expansion targets need to be raised even further, said Minister Robert Habeck in a brief video looking back at the year (in German). For this to happen, bureaucratic barriers need to be reduced, funding needs to be increased, and the Länder need to be involved more closely. The Federal Government therefore presented new rules for many areas in 2022. The most important ones are to be found in the 2023 Renewable Energy Sources Act, which governs and simplifies the expansion of renewable energy on water, on land and on rooftops.

Revisions of the 2023 Renewable Energy Sources Act and the 2023 Offshore Wind Energy Act step up the pace

The European Commission gave the go-ahead under state aid rules for the revisions of the Renewable Energy Sources Act and the Offshore Wind Energy Act at the end of December 2022. This means that all of the envisaged measures to speed up the expansion of renewables can be applied from 1 January 2023 as planned. They include much higher expansion paths and volumes for auction – particularly for onshore and offshore wind and for solar energy. The first auction for onshore wind energy under the 2023 RES Act is to begin on 1 February 2023. The first auctions under the new Offshore Wind Energy Act are also to be announced in February.

„Citizens’ energy undertakings” funding programme for onshore wind energy cushions high costs

Further to this, the 2023 RES Act contains a raft of important measures to improve the policy framework for the expansion of renewable energy in general – including for citizens’ energy, the participation of municipalities in the energy transition, the grid connection of solar installations, more sites for ground-mounted PV, and the integration of solar equipment like agrivoltaics (e.g. on farms) and floating PV (on water) into regular funding. The new „Citizens’ energy undertakings” funding programme for onshore wind energy will help cover the costs of the planning and approval phase of wind energy projects for citizens’ energy undertakings.

The 2023 Offshore Wind Energy Act delivers a comprehensive acceleration of planning and approval procedures, swifter commissioning of grid connections, a much larger volume of sites up for auction, and new auction procedures.

Second round of Federal Funding for Efficient Buildings in force since January 2023

The first round of the reformed Federal Funding for Efficient Buildings (BEG) in the summer of 2022 primarily gave a good boost to energy-efficient renovation. The second round of the reform entered into force on 1 January 2023. For example, it includes a new bonus for serial retrofitting, an increased and broadened bonus for the least efficient quarter of buildings in Germany („worst-performing-buildings bonus”) and higher energy efficiency requirements. The incentives for retrofitting were increased further, and the efficiency of the programme boosted further in order to reach as many people as possible with the available funding.

Concept paper for the switch to renewables-based heating points the way forward

Heating in Germany is to become much more environmentally friendly. At present, 80% of the demand for heat is covered by the combustion of fossil fuel. Almost half of the heating systems are gas-fired. However, Germany intends to be climate-neutral in 22 years’ time, and the lifetime of heating equipment is 20 to 30 years. So every heating system which is installed now and in the coming years should fit in with the climate targets for 2045. A concept paper for the switch to renewables-based heating points the way forward and forms the basis for a revision of the Buildings Energy Act, which is currently in preparation and could be adopted by the cabinet in March 2023. The aim is to launch the compulsory shift to renewable energy in the buildings sector from 2024.