Germany is concerned that European Commission legislative plans will harm its system of subsidy policy for renewable electricity, resulting in a loss running to billions of euros.
German daily Financial Times Deutschland reports that Brussels is planning to create a trading system for green electricity based on a system of pre-set quotas for EU member states.
The plan is to be unveiled in December as part of a overall package laying out how member states will ensure that 20% of their energy comes from renewable sources, a goal the EU set itself earlier this year.
But Berlin fears the commission plan will undermine its current subsidy system whereby the building of wind, sun or other green installations are supported with fixed prices for how much they feed into the electricity net.
This support has led to a boom in the renewable energy sector.
Under Brussels’ plan, if a country does not fulfil its quotas - i.e. produce enough renewable energy - then they would buy it elsewhere. Berlin fears that this market situation this will lead to a rise in prices for bio-energy, above the current fixed price in Germany.
FT Deutschland notes that at a recent expert conference in Amsterdam, the German environment ministry said that the German subsidy system would be “destroyed” and could by 2020 cost the government an additional €4 billion a year.
The result would be a loss in “public acceptance” of the system.
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