Can't See the Trees for the Forest? The Ongoing Controversy over Amending the German Renewable Energy Act

摘要

The most recent step in a very long chain of German legislative acts to promote energy from renewable sources, starting in 1991, is the 2014 Amendment (EEG 2014). The amendment of the EEG comes under the conditions of a new European Energy Policy, the phase-out of nuclear energy production, climate change and resource scarcity. Energy efficiency and renewable energy earn high importance. The electricity market design is heavily explicable, in particular the complex relationship between costs and prices. All considerations and amendments are shaped by the economic consequences within the limits. In particular affordability and debt ceiling are important key words. The last discussion can be summarised up as an efficiency debate.