In June 2008, the German Lower House adopted an amendment to the German Renewable Energy Act (EEG). The new EEG entered into force on January 1, 2009. The German government aims to increase the share of electricity generation accounted for by renewables from its current level of about 15 % to at least 30 % by 2020. The amended EEG envisages adapted rates of compensation for the various sources of energy. In addition, it creates an improved legal basis for promoting offshore wind power, replacing old wind turbines with more productive ones (repowering) and integrating renewables-based electricity generation into the grid. The amendment to the EEG will stimulate further investment–especially in offshore wind projects–and is therefore laudable. But it does not include additional incentives to increase the cost efficiency of individual technologies.

We regret that certain directives envisaged by the Act have not been implemented yet, although the amended EEG has already come into force. This applies, among other things, to the envisaged facilitation of the direct marketing of electricity produced from renewables by plant operators or resellers commissioned by them, which is expected to provide further major stimulus for long-term market integration. We hope that the directives will be submitted in the current legislative period and approved by the German Lower House. The impending adoption of the German law for the acceleration of the construction of ultra high-voltage networks is just as important for the expansion of the existing grid infrastructure in order to achieve the federal government’s goals in a timely manner.