New German funding guidelines to speed up domestic production of clean technologies – econ min

The German economy ministry (BMWK) has published a new regulation which will allow the federal government and the country’s states to financially support the production of key technologies needed for the energy transition – such as batteries, solar panels or heat pumps – without the need to get an individual EU green light based on state aid rules. In future, under the new guidelines, projects that fall under the “Federal Transformation Technologies Scheme” could receive direct government support, saving time and reducing bureaucracy, according to a press release from the economy ministry. The regulation has been approved by the European Commission as part of its ‘Temporary Crisis and Transition Framework’, which makes it possible for governments to support investments in sectors and technologies that are key for the transition to a climate-neutral economy. Generally, federal funding has to receive EU approval under state aid rules.

“We need much more capacity for the production of wind turbines, photovoltaic systems, heat pumps, batteries and their components,” economy minister Robert Habeck said. “Therefore, the new federal scheme is a very important support framework and we very much welcome the fact that the European Commission has approved it so quickly.” According to the BMWK, Germany is one of the first European member states to take advantage of the bloc’s further relaxation of state aid rules for clean technologies, adopted in March. The first sector to benefit from state aid under the new funding framework will be the production of battery components, news site Table.Media reported.