Germany amends building code to boost renewables

• The German government on Wednesday accepted changes to the Federal Building Code in an additional relocate to spur the deployment of renewable energy across the country.

The draft law, suggested by the Federal Ministry for Housing, Urban Development and also Building (BMWSB), intends to promote the expansion of renewable energy in opencast mining areas as well as the construction of hydrogen plants in order to strengthen power safety and security.

The adjustments to the Building ordinance are an essential component for accelerating the development of renewable energy and also utilizing the electricity created in a reliable way, claimed economic situation minister Robert Habeck.

The draft law offers a privileged standing to plants for the production or storage of hydrogen that are spatially and also functionally related to wind turbines. Such plants will make certain that wind turbines do not need to be switched off in case of a grid traffic jam and that the excess electricity can be made use of for hydrogen production.

Furthermore, the federal states will certainly be equipped to provide ordinances and also enable the setup of wind turbines as well as solar panels in opencast mining areas. Such locations have fewer conflicts with environmental management rules or affected neighbouring areas and also these locations are well linked to the power grid. With the ordinances, the government states will be able to replace prolonged processes for modifications to the existing planning basis which will certainly sustain the fast application of green power projects.