Eastern Germany must benefit more from its renewable power riches, state leader says

The states of eastern Germany that boast a high share of renewable energy sources should benefit from their large number of wind turbines and solar panels by paying lower electricity prices, Brandenburg’s state premier Dietmar Woidke has said, according to a report by newspaper Die Welt. The energy system’s regulatory framework must be changed to avoid people in Brandenburg “paying twice,” he argued, by having to put up with a high density of renewable power installations while at the same paying some of the highest power prices in the country in recent years, Woidke argued. “This doesn’t add up,” said the Social Democrat (SPD) state leader.

The European Commission, several neighbouring states, and many researchers have all called on Germany to split up its nationwide single electricity price zone into smaller ones to better reflect the uneven distribution of renewable power installations and address grid imbalances. Germany’s expert commission on the energy transition has also recommended splitting up the price zone. However, successive German governments have rejected the idea, including the current one consisting of the SPD and chancellor Friedrich Merz’s conservative Christian Democrats (CDU). While renewables-heavy northern states are in favour of a split, the industrial centres of the south are firmly opposed, fearing it would lead to higher power prices for them.

Woidke said he did not mean to challenge the single price zone, which he described as “an act of solidarity” among Germany’s states. “However, this is also a question of fairness,” he argued, calling for electricity price relief for citizens and businesses in his state. Woidke’s comments were made at a meeting with federal economy minister Katherina Reiche, the state premier of Saxony-Anhalt, Reiner Haseloff, and Andreas Handschuh, the head of Saxony’s chancellery (all CDU).

Federal economy minister Reiche said the three eastern German states shared the challenges of exiting coal-fired power production and undergoing broader structural economic transformation. Germany has granted subsidies to regions affected by the phase-out, currently scheduled for 2038, totalling about 40 billion euros. Reiche said the eastern regions could become “modern and strong model regions with international appeal.” On 11 December, Reiche signed an agreement with energy company LEAG, which operates eastern Germany’s lignite mines and coal plants, on ring-fenced compensation payments related to the phase-out worth 1.75 billion euros.

Reiche said energy policy errors made in the past were now leading to unintended consequences in regions such as Brandenburg. The federal minister reiterated her call for better aligning renewable power expansion with grid expansion to avoid imbalances and reduce costs. The roughly 4,000 wind turbines in the state often produce more electricity than the grid can absorb, highlighting the challenges posed by slower grid expansion, Reiche argued. “We need a new balance between renewable energy, grid development, and storage technologies to ensure a secure power supply,” she added.