Three Decades of Renewable Electricity Policies in Germany

Abstract

Of the large industrial countries, Germany is clearly leading with regard to new renewable energy sources, occupying the first rank in terms of installed wind energy capacity, and the second rank in photovoltaics. This capacity is not due to an exceptional natural resource base but to policy, despite the fact that this policy was conducted in a rather lukewarm fashion until 1997. This led to a remarkable expansion of this sector. The red-green coalition, in office since 1998, developed the vision of achieving 50 percent and more of electricity generated from RES by 2050, a goal that seems well accepted by the public but not by the established energy interests or the leaders of the conservative-liberal opposition, even though the cost appears to be comparatively modest. The article gives a historical account of German RES-E policy since 1974 and focuses in particular on the evolution of "feed-in" legislation from 1990 to 2004. The first 15 years of RES-E policy after 1974 were devoted to R&D. Market creation measures only came into effect after 1988; of these, the Feed-In Law was the most important. During the 1990s, it barely managed to survive, but significant improvement occurred after the 1998 election; the new majority greatly strengthened RES-E support, particularly for photovoltaics and biomass. However, this legislation is still not fully accepted on both the domestic and the EU levels.

Technological innovation systems in contexts: Conceptualizing contextual structures and interaction dynamics

“…An example is the feed-in tariff in Germany, which represents a complex compromise of the interests of different renewable energy advocates and broader concerns of political parties, energy sector incumbents and other stakeholders (Lauber and Mez, 2004).…”

The impact of environmental policy instruments on innovation: A review of energy and automotive industry studies

“…Here we will focus on the German electricity feed-in law (EFL) of 1990. It required electricity distributors to buy power from producers of renewable electricity (small-scale hydro, landfill gas, biomass, geothermal, onshore and offshore wind and solar cells) and pay them a price corresponding to 60-95% of the average consumer price for electricity (Lauber and Mez, 2004). Tariffs were technologyspecific, in that more mature technologies received a lower price than less developed, more expensive ones, and from 2000 prices for new plants were reduced annually (Mitchell et al, 2006).…”

The merit-order effect: A detailed analysis of the price effect of renewable electricity generation on spot market prices in Germany

“…This development is mainly driven by a guaranteed feed-in-tariff which has been in place since 1991. The actual conditions of the German support scheme were revised in 1998, 2000 and 2004 (see also Laubner, Metz, 2004;Wustenhagen, Bilharz, 2006). Since 2000 the Renewable Energy Sources Act is in place.…”