About Germany's national settings for energy communities

The topic of this presentation is the German national settings for energy communities. This is primarily connected to the Economic aspect and the policy and regulations aspect of the new clean energy communities. The information in this presentation is taken from the NEWCOMERS project research activity, summarized in the deliverable titled Description of polycentric settings in the partner countries that you can find on this link: https://www.newcomersh2020.eu/upload/files/D2_2_newcomers_typology_of_new_clean_energy_communities_DEF.pdf We developed the content of this presentation with the expert support by prof. Jenny Palm and dr. Katharina Reindl from the International Institute for Industrial Environmental Economics (IIIEE) at Lund University in Sweden, the NEWCOMERS project consortium partner. We recommend you to first take a look at the introductory Content Item about the importance of national settings for the operations of energy communities. 2. CENTRAL PART – CONTENT In this presentation, we offer only a selection of key data about Germany that represent the national setting for the energy communities. You can find more detailed data here. 1. Socioeconomic conditions Germany has the population of around 83 million citizens on a land area of around 340 000 km2. Their unemployment rate in March 2020 was 3.5 %, which is lower than the EU average of 6.2 %. 2. Technical systems Now we're going to briefly look at Germany's energy system, which is explained in much more detail here a. Energy production and consumption Most of Germany's energy still comes from fossil fuels, with oil, gas and coal being the largest sources, despite substantial RES developments. One third of all energy in Germany is consumed by the industry sector, followed by the transport sector, with the energy consumption staying rather steady. b. The electricity system Fossil fuels represented 52 % of Germany's electricity generation mix in 2018, but with the aim of ending nuclear power in 2022 and coal in 2038, the mix is expected to change significantly in the future, with RES increasing their share. The German power market is interconnected with its neighboring countries. Germany is a net exporter of electricity. c. The electricity grid and smart grids Germany has four Transmission System Operators (TSOs) that plan and maintain Germany’s ultra-high voltage grid and regulate grid operations. The ultra-high voltage electricity grid must grow to manage the shift to an energy system primarily based on renewables, therefore the government is prioritizing almost 8 thousand km of grid expansions. Germany also faces network constraints, because northern states are facing power surplus, while the more metropolitan and industrial south is facing a deficit. d. The heating systems The German heating sector is highly dependent on fossil fuels, with around 25 % systems being oil based. The use of RES is growing in new buildings, but the problem of old and inefficient heating systems remains. e. Energy related emissions Germany aims for a 40 % total emission reduction by 2020 and 55 % by 2030. Despite the growth of RES, emissions have not decreased as much, in 2017, the reduction was 28 %, making Germany far away from reaching its goals in 2020. 3. Institutional setting Now we're moving on to the institutional setting, where we'll briefly discuss political goals and policies, tax schemes and prices. a. Political goals and national energy agreements Germany's energy transition strategy can be summarized in three main objectives: 1. All sectors must reduce energy consumption, 2. Renewable energy must be used when economically and ecologically sensible and 3. Remaining energy need should be supplied by electricity from RES. More specific goals, among them the emission reduction, are defined in the Energy Concept document, which is discussed in more detail in our deliverable. b. Performance on EU 2020 energy targets The climate policy in Germany is guided and influenced by the EU climate policies framework, namely the 2020 climate package as well as the 2030 climate framework. c. Electricity market, policy and law The German electricity market was fully liberalised in 1998. The most significant market reform after that was the Act on the Further Development of the Electricity Market, with the goal of making the electricity market suitable for growing shares of renewables and adjust the regulation for competition between flexible supply, flexible demand and storage. d. Subsidies and tax schemes Germany applies many different tax schemes to further energy transition, such as energy tax on oil products, natural gas and coal products. You can read more on specific schemes in the deliverable. e. Electricity prices In comparison to neighbouring IEA countries, the German electricity price increased the most in the last 10 years. There was a price drop in 2015 but otherwise the prices increased by 10% in industry and household sector in the last 10 years. 4. Actors In this section we will name the key public and market actors. All actors are described in detail in the deliverable. a. Institutional actors Federal legislative power in Germany rests in the parliament, called Bundestag, and the federal council Bundesrat. Other important institutional actors are The German Environment Agency and The German Emission Trading Authority, as well as other ministries and offices. b. Market actors Germany has four TSOs that together make up its transmission system and hundreds of power providers, among which 4 largest provide 50 % of conventional electricity. c. Energy communities In Germany, there is no single definition of energy communities. Moreover, the terms community energy or citizen energy are more widely used. At the end of 2016, 1,747 energy communities were registered in Germany. The most common kind are energy cooperatives. Additionally, there are about 100 communities that operate their own electricity grid.