The European Commission has found Germany’s plans to support renewables through auctions to be in line with EU state aid rules.
Germany introduced amendments to its clean energy bill in July, aiming to generalize the use of tenders to support projects.
As of next January subsidies will mainly be granted through competitive tenders.
This will promote the steady deployment of renewable energy whilst maintaining competition in the German energy market, the EU Commission said.
Technology-specific auctions will be organised for wind and solar power projects above 750kW as well as biomass and biogas plants with more than 150kW of capacity.
“The amendments to the German EEG law we approved today make sure that one of the largest renewable support schemes in the EU will be based on auctions,” EU competition commissioner Margrethe Vestager said.
“The decision allows Germany to organise separate auctions for different renewable energy technologies to keep its electricity grid stable, and commits Germany to test alternative auction designs for the future through pilot projects.”
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