“Unburden power price, start heating transition”

The renewable surcharge scheme in Germany’s renewable energy act (EEG) is increasingly slackening the Energiewende, writes Robert Busch, chairman of Germany’s Association of Energy Market Innovators (BNE), in a guest commentary for Frankfurter Rundschau. The surcharge that recently had been raised to 6.88 euro cents/kWh “is making it hard to expand the use of renewable energy to the heating sector”, Busch says. While sector coupling that makes renewable energy production available for the heating of buildings would be necessary to reduce Germany’s CO₂-footprint, the high EEG surcharge renders renewables uncompetitive with regard to fossil fuels for heating, he argues. If fossil fuels were surtaxed according to their emissions, the EEG surcharge could fall as much as 50 percent, which could pave the way for effective sector coupling, Busch adds.

For more information on the EEG’s structure, see the CLEW dossier The reform of the Renewable Energy Act.