5-point plan for radical EEG reform

A wake-up call from the Energy Watch Group

The 5-point plan by Hans-Josef Fell and the Energy Watch Group once again confirms my demands for a decentralised energy supply, which have been known for decades: it is not a law on switching off PV inverters that promotes the energy transition, but bureaucracy-free electricity trading with neighbours and within the municipality, so that electricity is generated and consumed locally.

That is exactly what relieves the power grids permanently – not switching off within a centrally controlled corporate system geared towards maximising profit. The money must stay with the citizens. The regional (municipal) power grid also belongs in citizens’ hands.

It is about regional generation and regional consumption, never about re-centralising the energy system, which makes it vulnerable to disruption again and causes enormous costs. The recent example of the power cut lasting several days in Berlin clearly shows that with a decentralised supply there would never have been an outage on this scale.

Every building, every business, every municipality thus becomes producer and consumer at the same time – ultimately energy-autonomous. That is the lasting solution.

Energy Watch Group presents 5-point plan for radical EEG reform (beginning of the interview)

Dear readers!

The proposals aim to radically reduce bureaucracy and lower costs. Against this background, the president of the Energy Watch Group (EWG), Hans-Josef Fell, explains in an interview with pv magazine why replacing tenders with a fixed feed-in tariff makes particular sense.

The EEG (Renewable Energy Sources Act) is to be amended. The Energy Watch Group has presented a radical 5-point plan for this. Can you briefly say which five points you are proposing for the EEG reform?

Hans-Josef Fell: Yes, the Energy Watch Group’s proposal aims to radically reduce bureaucracy and lower costs, which is also what Katherina Reiche wants. These are the five key points:

• Fixed feed-in tariffs set by law instead of tenders: the complicated state tenders are to be abolished and replaced by fixed, guaranteed tariffs.
• Make maximum use of grid connections: operators are to be given the right to fully over-build their grid connection – that is, to install as much photovoltaics, wind power and storage as the grid connection allows within its maximum feed-in capacity.
• Cheap electricity for neighbours: anyone living within a radius of five kilometres of an installation is to benefit from halved taxes and grid fees.
• Simple energy sharing: shared energy use in the neighbourhood within a two-kilometre radius is to be exempted from most levies if the users have a stake in the installation.
• Renewal without bureaucracy: so-called repowering of wind and solar is to be exempt from approval as long as the area used remains the same.

You call for the abolition of the monster bureaucracy and state planned economy in the EEG and the Energy Industry Act (EnWG). What does that mean for you in concrete terms?

Hans-Josef Fell: First of all, it is central that the 20-year fixed feed-in tariff in the EEG is retained. Without this long-term security, in view of high technological and regulatory risks, only a few investors will continue to invest in power generation, as they can no longer be financed so easily by banks. The remaining investors would demand significantly higher returns – resulting in electricity prices 50 to 100 per cent higher. That would largely stop the expansion of renewables, reduce the supply of electricity and massively increase electricity costs. A core problem is the introduction of tenders. Since then, the expansion of renewable energies in Germany has collapsed drastically. There are two main reasons for this: first, the tender system leads to enormous bureaucracy. Particularly affected are the citizens’ energy companies, which until 2017 were the mainstay of the expansion of renewables. Many of these players are deterred by the complex procedures or pushed out of the market entirely. Second, state-set expansion volumes artificially limit new installations. Numerous tenders are oversubscribed – then even approved, ready-to-build projects do not win a contract. Other tenders are undersubscribed because many potential bidders are deterred by the bureaucracy in advance. Tenders are thus a prime example of a state planned economy: the state sets expansion targets and volumes, while officials without any market or competitive risks of their own impose extensive and sometimes arbitrary requirements. That has nothing to do with a market economy; instead it slows down innovation, investment and the necessary rapid expansion of renewable energies.

You can find the whole interview in pv magazine behind this link

Read on in pv magazine (German)

“Wind, PV, solar, biomass and hydropower are economically unbeatable. Those who do not want to change anything will also lose what they want to preserve.”

Wolfgang Löser, energy pioneer

Who am I?

“Austria’s first energy-self-sufficient farm” since 2002, with talks and seminars

Address: Untere Dorfstrasse 23, 2004 Streitdorf Austria

Phone: +43 (0)2269 2317 Mobile: +43 (0)680 1113363 Email: w.loeser@aon.at | www.energiebauernhof.com

Link to the book (German): Wolfgang Löser – Der Energierebell – Stocker Verlag

Link to the film: Enerkey – Who holds the key to the energy transition?

Think about it today: wind, solar and photovoltaics with POWER STORAGE, e-mobility and combined heat and power as balancing energy

Other posts by me

Why power grids need to think decentrally

Energy self-sufficiency in practice

Energy sovereignty begins locally

Esbjerg: how energy self-sufficiency can work