Whether balcony power plants or communal building supply: Solar Package I will significantly reduce bureaucracy in the construction and operation of photovoltaic systems. The new regulations will further accelerate the expansion of solar energy.
Solar Package I makes it much easier and less bureaucratic for citizens and companies to install photovoltaics (PV photovoltaics) systems and utilise solar energy. The legislative package sets an important course for achieving the ambitious climate protection targets. This is because the expansion of solar energy must be significantly accelerated once again.
The German government had passed the Solar Package I (Act amending the EEG and other energy industry regulations to increase the expansion of photovoltaic energy generation) was launched in August 2023. Both the Bundestag and the Bundesrat have now passed the law. The governing factions in the German Bundestag have supplemented the draft at the time. For example, regulations on battery storage, for the community supply of solar power and for standardised technical connection conditions throughout Germany have been added.
Most of the legislative package will come into force the day after it is published in the Federal Law Gazette.
More solar energy for climate protection
Germany wants to be one of the first industrialised nations to achieve climate neutrality by 2045. To achieve this, the electricity sector must largely eliminate greenhouse gas emissions by 2035. At least 80 per cent of gross electricity consumption is to be covered by renewable energies by 2030. In order to achieve these targets, the German government is doing everything it can to massively accelerate the expansion of renewable energies. Solar energy will make an important contribution to achieving Germany's ambitious climate targets.
Higher expansion targets for solar energy
The statutory expansion targets for solar energy were EEG 2023 has already been raised. The solar package is intended to achieve the higher expansion targets for PV be achieved: 215 gigawatts (GW) of solar power are to be added by 2030. The target for 2023 was exceeded: instead of 9 GW new solar systems with 14.6 GW capacity will be added, almost twice as much as in 2022. GW and in 2025 18 GW solar capacity will be added. From 2026, more than three times as much is to be added, i.e. 22 GW. About half of the additional capacity is to come from open spaces and the other half from roof systems.
Simple photovoltaics on the balcony
The commissioning of photovoltaic systems on balconies, so-called balcony power plants, will be much easier and therefore quicker for citizens. Balcony power plants should be put into operation as easily as possible.
The Federal Network Agency has Registration of balcony power plants simplified as early as 1 April and limited to a few simple data entries. Prior registration with the grid operator is no longer necessary. The Federal Network Agency automatically informs the grid operator about the balcony power plant that has been newly connected to its grid.
The law now brings further simplifications:
- Digital electricity meters not mandatory
New Balcony PV should not be prevented by the fact that a bidirectional meter - i.e. a digital electricity meter - has to be installed. The systems may continue to use the old Ferraris meters on a transitional basis. The previous electricity meter will then simply run backwards when electricity is fed into the grid. This benefits consumers, as it reduces the amount of electricity they pay for.
- More powerful PV systems permitted
In addition, balcony solar systems can be more powerful in future. For devices with an installed output of up to 2 kilowatts in total and an inverter output of up to 800 volt-amperes in total, simplified registration applies.
- Power supply via the socket possible
In the future Balcony PV with a conventional Schuko plug. This makes installation considerably easier. A standard still needs to be developed with the associations.
Collectively supplying buildings with solar power
To enable tenants in apartment blocks to use cheaper solar power from roofs, garages or battery storage systems directly, the new instrument of "communal building supply" is being introduced. This eliminates the complicated diversions via the feed-in of the PV-electricity into the general power grid.
Regulations on billing and timely notification in the event of supply interruptions will also be precisely defined. In future, tenants will also be able to take out a favourable supplementary tariff themselves for electricity that is not covered by the low-cost tariff. PV-roof current is covered.
Improvements in tenant electricity
In future, tenant electricity is also to be subsidised for commercial buildings and ancillary facilities such as garages if the electricity generated there is consumed immediately, i.e. without being fed through the grid. Several systems can be combined. This avoids disproportionate technical requirements - previously a problem in residential neighbourhoods.
Trade: More large-scale, unbureaucratic PV-Systems
Until now, plants with an installed capacity of more than 100 kilowatts have been obliged to market their electricity directly. This is changing: in future, plant operators are to pass on their surplus quantities to the grid operators without remuneration, but also without direct marketing costs. System operators with a high level of self-consumption will benefit from this in particular. The new unbureaucratic regulation is intended to motivate them to generate more PV on large roofs.
Furthermore, the resolution passed by the Bundestag will reduce the feed-in tariff for commercial roof-mounted PV systems.PV-systems up to 750 kilowatts. In future, they will have to take part in tenders. In return, the tendering volumes will be increased.
Source: Press release from the Federal Government dated 26 April 2024
