Energy industry relieved as Germany sticks to renewable power expansion ambitions
Clean Energy Wire
Energy industry groups in Germany have welcomed the coalition government’s decision to keep the expansion targets for wind and solar power in its newly agreed power plant strategy unchanged.
“The clear commitment to a consistently strong expansion of renewable energy and to maintaining auction volumes creates the investment and planning security the industry needs,” the Renewable Energy Federation (BEE) said. “Companies and project developers can rely on this and continue to invest in expansion,” BEE head Ursula Heinen-Esser added.
The German Association of Energy and Water Industries (BDEW) called the decision “essential” for the energy transition’s progress. “The government acknowledges rising power demand and the need for continued electrification,” BDEW head Kerstin Andreae commented.
“We will keep the auctioned volumes in the Renewable Energy Act (EEG) at a consistently ambitious level,” the governing parties agreed at the end of last week during a meeting on key energy issues between senior representatives of chancellor Friedrich Merz’s conservative Christian Democrats (CDU) and the centre-left Social Democrats (SPD). The parties said a “continued strong expansion of electricity generation capacity” is a prerequisite for Germany’s energy transition, requiring both more renewables and a higher grid transmission capacity.
The agreement follows a period of industry uncertainty triggered by a “reality check” monitoring report of Germany’s energy transition, which was commissioned by the economy ministry and released in September. Many stakeholders had warned the government might scale back the country's existing renewables targets. While the report said that the continued fast buildout of renewable energy should be a priority for Germany, economy minister Katherina Reiche from the CDU suggested the expansion pace might need to be slowed to allow the lagging grid expansion to catch up.
Germany achieved a renewables share of almost 57 percent of gross power demand in Germany in the first three quarters of 2025 and aims for a share of 80 percent by 2030. The country added a record 20 gigawatts (GW) of renewable electricity capacity in 2024 (17 GW solar photovoltaics [PV], 3.3 GW onshore wind). However, to reach current capacity targets for 2030, annual additions would have to reach 19 GW for solar PV and 12 GW for wind power (total onshore and offshore).
