Chancellery chief: Next government will aim to stop rise of renewables levy

Parties will discuss ways to “stabilise” Germany’s renewables levy in the coalition talks following the general elections on 24 September, Chief of the Chancellery Peter Altmaier told Andreas Mihm in an interview with the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. If the support for renewable power facilities, including for instance new offshore parks that have not yet been built, were financed just via the Renewable Energy Act (EEG) surcharge, the levy would “continue to rise significantly. It would be wise to think about ways to prevent this from happening,” said Altmaier. Several “different solution models” were discussed by experts, but he did not want to “publicly speculate on these.” Only one approach is not acceptable, he said: “Solving the problem through higher state debt. We have consolidated the budget and avoided new debt. It’s supposed to stay this way."

Read the interview in German here.

For background, read the CLEW factsheet Germany ponders how to finance renewables expansion in the future.