But it also causes some increased hardship for solar and opens another front of disagreement with the European Commission.

"Companies like EWE that have pushed forward the Energiewende for years, with the new EEG receive a fair amount of planning security and can continue to work successfully," Werner Brinker, the chief executive of northern German utility EWE, says.

EWE is active both in onshore and offshore wind, and owns the 108MW Riffgat offshore wind park in the North Sea that was grid-connected this year.

Offshore