Germany's upper house of parliament, the Bundesrat, approved on Friday revamped legislation on funding renewable energy, clearing the way for the law to come into force on August 1. The far-reaching law, which seeks to cap support payments for renewables without jeopardising the country's shift towards a low carbon economy, had hung in the balance, after months of negotiations, due to wrangling with European Union authorities over its compatibility with state aid guidelines.
But Brussels granted its consent this week, providing encouragement to the Bundesrat, which represents Germany's 16 states, to vote through the reform package to the renewable energy act (EEG) in its Friday session. "Germany has embarked on a long project to derive the energy supply of an industrial nation from renewable energy sources, which is historically without parallel," Stefan Wenzel, environment minister of the state of Lower Saxony, told the Bundesrat.
Germany's lower house of parliament, the Bundestag, approved the reform package two weeks ago. On Wednesday, European Competition Commissioner Joaquin Almunia said Berlin had allayed concerns that German industry might receive unfair advantages through exemptions from obligatory payments towards the cost of funding green energy.