PHOTON International The Photovoltaic Magazine

Broad acceptance for German PV bill

The lower house of German parliament's adoption of new solar electricity tariffs is a double victory for the PV branch: on the one hand, the law duly eliminates the threat of a short-term drop in sales. But even more importantly, the conservatives agreed to it, which appears to set a stable long-term political framework for the PV business.

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Atypical unity: Even the conservatives voted in favor of the provisional EEG law in the PV-adorned Bundestag, Germany's lower house of parliament.

On Nov. 27, the members of parliament from the Green party announced a major victory, for which Hans-Josef Fell was significantly responsible: that is to say on that day, parliament passed the Second Law for the Revision of the Renewable Energy Law – in short, a provisional EEG, although the name is misleading, as the law deals only with PV.

The applause that met Fell's announcement at the Forum Solarpraxis, a solar investment conference held the same day, was appropriately frenetic. Fell, as the Green party's research-policy spokesperson, accepted the recognition modestly – after all, so many other colleagues in his party and that of the Social Democrats (SPD) shared in the success. But he still ventured a rhetorical flourish, calling the event a »magic moment of parliamentarianism.« In the case of the EEG, which unfortunately proves to be an exception, representatives of the Bundestag, Germany's lower house, successfully hammered out a law and charged the government with its implementation, rather than just quickly passing on a draft presented to them by one ministry or the other with a couple of cosmetic changes. Had the parliament chosen to take a less hands-on approach in this case, the PV industry would already be in big trouble, since the Federal Ministry for the Environment's (BMU) preparation of a »large-scale« EEG overhaul covering all renewables will certainly take a few more months.

A historic date
The joy witnessed at the Forum Solarpraxis in Berlin emerged with good reason: instead of a lengthy sales bust resulting from uncertain feed-in tariffs, the provisional law has brought timely clarity to the situation. And best of all, the conservatives (CDU/CSU) support the draft law proposed by the governing parties. In fact, at the first reading of the bill in the Bundestag, environmental spokesperson for the Christian Democrats (CDU) Peter Paziorek took the opportunity to chastise the government for its failures to properly support renewable energy. The emergency »heave-ho process« engendering the provisional law became a necessity for the PV industry only after the EEG revision was stalled by disagreements between the BMU and the Ministry of Economics (see PI 10/2003, p. 12). »They drove the law into the ground and then called parliament to bail them out,« said Paziorek – adding that in the interest of protecting endangered jobs, it was a call that had to be answered. »The PV industry cannot become a victim of the government's insincere and fallacious policy,« expostulated Paziorek.

So in light of the debate's course, it's not necessarily a given that a change of government would result in alterations to this new political framework. Whoever was there to witness the sorrowful countenances prior to parliamentary elections in 2002 knows what this means for the industry. The German Solar Energy Business Association (UVS) also euphorically welcomed the vote. This day could »go down in history as a milestone in the conversion of Germany's energy production and technological position,« a UVS memorandum proclaimed to its members.

No unanimity
Carsten Körnig (UVS) and his colleague Gerhard Stryi-Hipp from the Federal Solar Industry Association (BSi) can certainly be proud of the accomplishments of their cooperative lobbying campaign, though at the same time they must begin preparations for new tasks that lies ahead. As rosy as things appear, German politicians are hardly in agreement as to the future of PV. The Liberals party (FDP) refused to adopt the provisional law. And even the conservative vote wasn't unanimous. After the deliberations on the first parliamentary reading of the Social Democratic-Green party coalition's draft law on Nov. 13, the draft was sent to the Environmental Committee and the Committee on Industry and Trade. Shortly thereafter, a hectic back-and-forth began between the Bundestag's parties, with Körnig and other representatives of the PV industry always in the fray. The CDU/CSU finally signaled their willingness to adopt the law in exchange for small changes to the tariff rates (see article, p. 24).

Nevertheless, there were a few ricochets. Although at this point the CDU/CSU had already agreed to adopt the draft, five of the 12 conservative representatives in the Committee on Industry and Trade voted against it.

A solid compromise
But all in all, the compromise seems to be built on a fairly stable foundation. That was proven to be true during deliberations at the German Conference of Environment Ministers (UMK), which is effectively the upper house's counterpart to the lower house's Environmental Committee. On Dec. 4, when the provisional law was the topic of debate at the UMK, no objections were raised and the call was raised for the law's adoption in the upper house (after this issue went to print). However, the upper house approval is just a formal matter, as neither the provisional law nor the complete EEG revision need its authorization to go into effect.

Still, plenty of work lies ahead of renewable energy proponents, especially with regard to the EEG revision, where the risk of worsening conditions for biomass, wind, and hydroelectric power is still on the table.