Germany's new economy and climate minister wants a massive expansion of renewable energy. However, some of his recent planned measures could be controversial: a planned solar roof obligation, for example.

The new Federal Minister for Economics and Climate Protection Robert Habeck (the Greens) wants to speed up climate protection and take immediate and comprehensive measures. German news agencies have learned from the ministry that the cabinet will decide on the first package of emergency laws and several items by April. Overall, the "immediate climate protection plan" containing all laws, regulations and measures will be completed by the end of 2022, so that all measures will come into effect from 2023.

German climate protection seeks massive backlog

Habeck unveiled new documents on climate protection in Berlin last Tuesday, which show that Germany's climate protection has fallen short of expectations, and the 2022 climate target is likely to be missed, as will 2023. The ministry believes that Germany has a "massive backlog" in terms of climate protection, so measures must be taken now! Planned immediate measures should include mandatory solar roof obligations for new buildings and a new financing scheme for green hydrogen, as well as amendments to the Renewable Energy Act (EEG).

In addition, Germany will increase the number of tenders for power generation from renewable sources such as wind and solar. After all, the Traffic Light Alliance wants to increase the share of electricity generation from renewables to 80% by 2030. According to preliminary calculations by industry associations, this proportion will reach only 42% in 2021.

In addition, according to the "Onshore Wind Law", 2% of the land in Germany will be included in the range where wind turbines can be installed, which will be much more than before.

In addition, the expansion of wind energy should be "coordinated" with species conservation and should create prerequisites for expediting planning and approval processes.

Household electricity is getting more expensive

Billions of billions of green energy surcharges will be funded through the federal budget from 2023, under the terms of the Traffic Light Coalition's ruling agreement. This will ease the electricity bills consumers have to pay. However, at present the electricity bills that German households have to pay continue to rise due to the increase in wholesale electricity prices: according to the comparison portal Check24, at least 682 basic e-commerce companies have increased or announced price increases. On average, up to 68.1% of contracts in the market face price increases