Regulatory framework

The European Union has set itself the goal of meeting 20 % of its energy requirements from renewable energies by 2020. The German government has therefore decided to increase the proportion of renewable energies used to generate heat to 14 % by 2020. To achieve this goal, the German government passed the Renewable Energies Heat Act (EEWärmeG), which came into force on the 1st of January 2009 and specifies that the energy requirements for heating (including water heating) and cooling in new buildings must be met at least in part by renewable energies, for example, from solar thermal energy systems. The German states are free to apply this commitment to existing or old buildings too. Additional incentives for installing solar thermal energy systems were created in Germany with the so-called ‘Marktanreizprogramm’ (MAP, “market incentive programme”).

Solar funding consists of two parts: First, the investment subsidies via the Federal Office of Economics and Export Control (BAFA, Bundesamt für Wirtschaft und Ausfuhrkontrolle) for small systems installed mostly by private investors. This funding is aimed at highly innovative technologies, such as solar collectors for combined hot water and heating purposes or solar collectors for the generation of cooling and process heat.

Second, low-interest loans with an amortisation subsidy within the KfW programme ‘Erneuerbare Energien’ (“Renewable Energies”, KfW is a German government-owned development bank) for larger systems typically installed by commercial investors. Heat grids and thermal storage systems can be funded this way. Various measures in different states and municipalities throughout Germany add to this funding.