Senior figures in Chancellor Angela Merkel’s governing coalition have agreed a deal to finally meet a commitment made earlier this year to hold special wind and solar tenders designed to bring Germany closer to its 2020 climate targets.

But the compromise now reached will see the additional capacity stretched into 2021, in order to ease possible grid bottlenecks.

Instead of tendering off 2GW each of wind and PV in 2019 and 2020 as promised during coalition talks earlier this year, the Christian Democrats (CDU), their Bavarian allies from the Christian Social Union (CSU) and the Social Democrats (SPD) have agreed to hold additional 1GW auctions each for onshore wind and solar in 2019, then 1.4GW each in 2020 and 1.6GW each in 2021.

“We have reached a good, comprehensive package. The special tenders for wind on land and PV will come in the years 2019-2021,” CDU/CSU deputy floor leaders Carsten Linnemann and Georg Nüßlein said in a joint statement.

“At the same time we have agreed to hold innovation tenders in order to try out new support conditions that should lead to more grid and system services as well as more competition for renewable energies.”

The tender compromise is slated to be discussed by Merkel’s cabinet next month, according to press reports.

Initial reaction from the energy sector to the coalition deal was muted.

“This compromise is overdue. Hopefully it will be the beginning of an energy policy offensive by the coalition. The standstill so far needs to end,” said Stefan Kapferer, chairman of the federal energy and water industries federation BDEW.

Kapferer said Germany needs to speed up its renewable expansion if it wants to reach a target of 65% of green energy in its power mix by 2030 (up from 36% last year). He added that distance rules for wind power as the one valid in the state of Bavaria and another planned in North-Rhine Westphalia are “absolutely counter-productive”.

Germany’s solar energy federation BSW said the special tenders are useless as long as the government maintains a cumulative cap of 52GW until which support for solar power will be paid at all. That capacity could be reached in 2020 at the latest, the BSW reckons.

“The planned special auctions for solar energy are becoming eyewash if the solar cap isn’t lifted simultaneously,” BSW managing director Carsten Körnig said.

“The targets agreed upon in the coalition contract for an accelerated build-up of renewable energies and for climate protection cannot be reached like that.”

WindEurope head of advocacy & messaging Joël Meggelaars said: “Having clarity on these additional volumes is very important for developers and the supply chain. What we really need to see now is a firm commitment on the auction schedule up to 2030. The coalition will deliver this at the end of 2019.

“This extra visibility is key to keep cost reductions going and to ensure we keep jobs in the European supply chain. What we also need is a more simplified permitting process and a further consideration of the offshore wind volumes.”

Transition

German coalition deal to stretch 'special tenders' into 2021