In a special report, members of the German Monopoly Commission have called for the abolition of Germany's renewable energy law, or EEG. However, in a statement that was formally adopted yesterday morning by the Cabinet, the federal government now wants to preserve the law.
According to the opinion of the federal government, from the Federal Ministry of Economics and presented to pv magazine, "The federal government cannot follow the proposal by the Monopoly Commission to impose a quota system instead of the EEG. The federal government is for the further development of the instruments of the EEG, with which cost efficiency and flexibility potential can be realized."
An ironic detail: While the FDP recently called for a transition from the EEG to a quota model, party leader and Federal Economics Minister, Phillip Rösler has, on behalf of the federal government, had to reject the request by the Monopolies Commission.
The commission had previously criticized the parallelism of the EEG and Europe-wide emissions trading. This prevents an independent contribution to combating climate change, as well as an open, competitive search process for the most efficient method of remuneration for renewable energy, it wrote in the special report.
On this point, the federal government's opinion stated, "The approach is consistent, but it is questionable whether the promotion of renewable energy would receive sufficient incentives to be expanded. In addition, the renewable energy projects supported by the EEG should not only make a contribution to climate protection, but also aim at contributing to energy supply security."
Looking at the direct marketing of renewable energy, the Monopolies Commission confirmed that the new market integration model of the 2012 EEG was "basically correct". However, the instrument should be evaluated "in light of a longer lasting experience".
Yesterday morning, the Cabinet considered and evaluated the opinion that the EEG should be kept, and voted on it. It has now been adopted and will be forwarded to the German parliament and the federal council, a spokesperson for the Federal Ministry told pv magazine.
Translated by Becky Beetz.
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