The German Parliament adopted today the amendment of the Renewable Energy Act (Erneuerbare-Energien-Gesetz (EEG)).

The amendment aims at increasing the share of renewable energy electricity from currently 13 % to 30 % in the year 2020. It improves the remuneration of wind energy in onshore and offshore installations as well as for repowering projects. The amendments will be enforced as of 1 January 2009 and thus are expected to lead to a transitional slowdown of the German market in 2008 due to major shifts of wind projects starting operation to 2009. The main changes in the EEG concerning wind energy are:

• The initial remuneration for electricity from onshore wind farms will be increased from currently 8,03 to 9,2 ct/kWh. This tariff will be decreased every year for new installations by one percent.
• There will be a special premium for repowering projects of 0,5 ct/kWh, under the condition that at least ten years old turbines will be replaced by new turbines of at least twice the original capacity.
• The initial remuneration for offshore wind farms will be 15 ct/kWh until the year 2015 , after which the tariff for new installations will be 13 ct/kWh, to be decreased every year by another 5 %.
• Further changes include new requirements concerning feed-in and grid management for wind turbines, new possibilities for direct marketing of wind electricity at the electricity market, and stricter obligations for grid operators to improve and optimise grid capacities.