Drafts of Germany’s new onshore wind act under discussion in the Bundestag need to be improved, according to the German Wind Energy Association (BWE).
The BWE sees a need for improvement, among other things, with the provisions on the area setting in the act.
“In this respect, the draft clearly falls short of the regulatory possibilities of the legislature,” BWE said.
It said that setting interim targets by 2026 will only lead to further, unnecessary delays in the expansion.
“Numerous detailed regulatory questions in the planning process are not sufficiently clarified,” BWE said, adding that the law fails to meet the requirement of securing the annual expansion of at least 10GW of wind energy capacity.
BWE president Hermann Albers (pictured) said: “The two drafts, which are being negotiated for the first time in the Bundestag today, clearly show that the Federal government recognises the urgent need to expand renewable energies and has the common will to significantly accelerate this expansion. That is clearly to be welcomed.
“In their current form, however, the drafts do not adequately support the EEG amendment currently in the parliamentary process.
“It is now up to the MPs to make corrections to ensure that the laws can have the originally intended effect.
“We are also appealing to the members of parliament to allow simplified procedures for repowering, as announced in the coalition agreement.
“Wind energy projects with a capacity of around 10GW are currently stuck in the approval process.
“With targeted repowering, up to 45GW of output could be released in the short to medium term.
“Repowering can thus act as a bridging measure until the new legal regulations on area designation can take effect.”