Bavarian Minister-President Markus Söder (CSU) has called on the Federal Government to provide greater support for the long-stalled construction of wind turbines in Bavaria. According to Söder, the expansion of wind power in southern Germany must be promoted and must not be impeded, prompting the Bavarian state government to push for improvements to the Renewable Energy Sources Act (EEG) in Berlin, alongside Baden-Württemberg.
Söder told the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung that Bavaria has achieved “a real turning point” in approving new wind facilities. However, he criticized the federal network agency in Bonn for insufficiently considering regional factors when awarding subsidies for wind power projects. He noted, “We have over 700 wind turbines ready for implementation, but they are not receiving subsidies under the EEG due to the current framework regulations.”
The subsidies for building wind turbines are distributed through a nationwide auction process managed by the network agency. Essentially, the wind projects that manage with the lowest level of EEG support are the ones that secure the contracts.
Because wind turbines in the windier north of Germany can often produce electricity at lower costs than those in southern Germany, the northern projects are more successful in the awarding process. Consequently, Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg are demanding that a higher total number of wind power projects be tendered, and specifically that 20 percent of the tendered quantity be reserved for Southern Germany. Nevertheless, Federal Minister for Economic Affairs, Katherina Reiche (CDU), has expressed skepticism regarding these demands, though her ministry is currently preparing an amendment to the EEG.
