(Berlin) - The Federal Cabinet has decided to accelerate the construction of renewable energy systems and the expansion of the electricity grid. The ministerial group approved the draft for the implementation of the “EU Emergency Regulation” presented by Federal Economics Minister Robert Habeck.
“In this way, we are significantly increasing the dynamics of the expansion of renewable energies,” said the minister. The federal states and the approval authorities now have the legal basis “to press ahead with the expansion of wind power at full speed and to approve systems quickly”. He was sure “that they would do the same now.”
EU regulation is intended to accelerate the expansion of renewable energies
The basis is the “Regulation establishing a framework for the accelerated expansion of the use of renewable energies” (EU 18/2022), which was initially limited to 2577 months by the European Council in December. Essentially, the approval procedures are to be shortened significantly. This applies to wind energy on land, wind energy at sea, offshore connection lines and power grids as well as the installation of solar systems.
In Germany, the regulation is to be implemented into national law through changes to the Wind Energy Area Requirements Act, the Offshore Wind Energy Act and the Energy Industry Act. The cabinet decision is “a formulation aid” and will now be introduced into the parliamentary process to amend the Spatial Planning Act.
The EU Emergency Regulation also contains further regulations on acceleration that are directly applicable and therefore do not need to be implemented into national law. Among other things, it states that “renewable energy projects are of overriding public interest and serve public health and safety” in the area of the environment. Simplified procedures therefore apply to solar systems and energy storage, to repowering (for solar and wind turbines), to the installation of heat pumps and to grid expansion projects.
Reaction to Russian war of aggression
The emergency regulations are a "response to the Russian Federation's war of aggression against Ukraine" and "the unprecedented reduction in natural gas supplies" in order not to endanger the security of supply of the Union's member states, the EU text says: The "use of gas supplies as weapon and the manipulation of markets through deliberate interruptions of gas flows through the Russian Federation” led to “skyrocketing energy prices in the Union”, which “not only endangers the Union economy but also seriously threatens security of supply”. A rapid expansion of the use of renewable energies could help “to cushion the effects of the current energy crisis.
The wording of the “Regulation establishing a framework for the accelerated expansion of the use of renewable energies” (“EU Emergency Regulation”, EU 2022/2577) can be found in the Official Journal of the European Union (in German).
Photos
Two offshore wind farms in the North Sea owned by the utility Energie Baden-Württemberg AG with a cumulative output of around 639 megawatts: “Hohe See” and “Albatros” have been online since October 2019 and January 2020. © EnBW
