Regulatory framework
- Onshore system with feed-in.
Government research, development and promotional measures as well as favourable funding opportunities accelerated progress in the development of German wind technologies in the 1990s. Since April 2000, the feed-in tariffs guaranteed by the German Renewable Energy Sources Act (EEG) have offered the wind energy industry planning security. Producers of electricity from wind energy receive a guaranteed price per kWh. The initial tariff for new wind turbines on land was set on the 1st of January 2009 at 9.2 EURct/kWh (previously 8.03 EURct/kWh). This amount will be reduced annually by one per cent for newly commissioned turbines; from 1 January 2012, the digression will be increased to 1.5 percent. The feed-in tariff in Germany also depends on the location of the wind turbine. For offshore systems, the EEG provides a feed-in tariff of 15 EUR ct/kWh for the first 12 years.
BWE/Heiko Jessen
Transport of a rotor blade for the repowering project in Galmsbüll, Germany.
The EEG forms a basis for the stable development of Germany’s wind power industry. In addition to ensuring planning security, it also offers the industry incentives to advance technical developments that could significantly reduce the cost of wind power. Wind energy is already competitive today in some locations. Energy from wind power can also now be sold directly in Germany, although most wind power energy is still remunerated under the terms of the EEG. The new EEG raised the tariff rates for wind energy in 2009 and provided more attractive conditions for ‘repowering’ – the replacement of older turbines with newer, more powerful ones.
Incentives to improve the integration of wind turbines into the grid, through what is known as the ‘systems service bonus’, for example, were among the new specifications introduced in the amendments to the EEG in 2009. Since 2011, new onshore turbines must demonstrate certain grid control characteristics, in return for which the initial tariff will be increased by 0.5 EURct/kWh through the systems service bonus. From 1 January 2012, the newest EEG amendment further rewards repowering – the replacing of older turbines with new and more powerful turbines. However, from January 2012, the repowering bonus of 0.5 EUR ct/kWh will be paid only for turbines that were put into operation before 2002. A “Repowering Info Clearinghouse” was set up on the 1st of January 2010 to promote repowering, and it began its work on the 26th of March 2010. This information exchange, with its headquarters in Hanover, supports municipalities and local authorities in the process of replacing older wind turbines with new, more powerful turbines.
For air traffic safety reasons, wind turbines in Germany of a total height of 100 m or more require aeronautical beacons. This ‘illumination’ often leads to acceptance issues; modified beacons and the prospective use of transponders in small aircraft may solve this issue.
