Innogy has called on German regulators to lift restrictions on the size of solar farms that a report has found could add more than €3bn in decarbonisation costs.
The German utility commissioned a report by the Center for Solar Energy and Hydrogen Research Baden-Wuerttemberg (ZSW) that consumers could save €3.5bn up to 2030 if the current restrictions were removed.
“Apart from a few exceptions, only plants up to a size of 10MW may be built, which often unnecessarily increases both production costs and land use,” Innogy said in a statement.
ZSW project manager Tobias Kelm said: “Our study shows that a stronger focus on open space systems in photovoltaic expansion and an expansion of the permissible surface area are important levers for a cost-efficient energy transition.”
“Thus, according to our calculations, production costs of up to €3.5bn could be saved by 2030,” he added.
Innogy said the report showed 0.32% of the arable land available today is needed for solar.
“So there is no excessive land take in this area,” it added.