German association calls for law changes to promote solar repowering

• The German federal government should amend the current Renewable Energy Act (EEG) to sustain the repowering of solar parks on the way to the objective of boosting solar capacity to 200 GW by 2030, according to the Association of Energy Market Innovators (BNE).

Germany had 59 GW of mounted solar capacity at the end of 2021 and also part of this capacity will certainly not be available by the end of the decade. Repowering has actually been underestimated until now but it provides an opportunity for a substantial boost in electricity manufacturing as low-performance modules in old parks could be changed with high-performance units, BNE stated previously today. This would enable keeping the existing capacity and also mounting more solar power without making use of even more land.

The association kept in mind that the deployment of one megawatt of solar capacity now requires less than 0.9 hectares (2.22 acres) of land compared with 2.5 hectares in the initial years of solar energy.

In Germany, BNE sees repowering capacity of approximately the lower-double figure gigawatt range for ground-mounted solar parks alone. Its calculations show that the substitute of in between 40% as well as 50% of the solar capacity that was installed in the country from 2005 to 2012 with a lot more effective photovoltaic modules would secure an additional 6.72 GW-10.5 GW by the end of the decade.

However, the present legislation poses a hurdle to the repowering of solar sites as plants would lose their feed-in tariff (FiT) under the EEG if their modules are changed with brand-new ones.

The association calls on the federal government to promote the repowering of photovoltaic plants in order to make it possible for the extra efficient use existing locations for the generation of solar power. Under BNE's proposal, the plants that will be outfitted with new high-performance modules must keep their privilege to EEG remuneration for the capacity that will be replaced and also for the staying years of the 20-year period.

The additional freshly released capacity that exceeds the original output of the plant ought to be allocated with a tender or the electricity must be offered through a power purchase agreement (PPA), according to BNE's proposal.