The German government has reportedly unveiled plans to expedite its solar and wind energy projects in wake of the Ukraine crisis highlighting the necessity to reduce the country’s reliability on Russian gas.

The ministry asserted that the country aims to ensure that its gas storage plants are full at the start of the winter irrespective of operator interests.

Robert Habeck, the economy minister, and a leading member of the Greens party stated that the country needs to take crucial steps like diversification of its import sources as it has been overtly reliant on Russian imports in the past. He added that Germany plans to substantially reduce fossil fuel consumption in the medium and long term.

The ministry intends to expedite the approval of the Renewable Energy Sources Act (EEG) via parliament so that it will be implemented by July 1. The act would result in Germany suspending subsidiary cuts for new solar panels in 2022, increasing solar tenders to nearly 20 gigawatts (GW) by 2028 from the existing 5 gigawatts, and maintaining this level through to 2035.

Furthermore, Germany would also increase volumes of wind energy tenders to 10 gigawatts per year by 2027 from the existing 2 gigawatts and maintain this level until 2035.

These steps would enable renewable sources to hold 80% of the country’s electricity requirements by 2030 and will have a complete hold by 2035, in comparison to a previous vague objective to stop using fossil fuels well before 2040.

By 2035, the onshore wind energy capacity of Germany should double up to nearly 110 GW, solar energy would triple up to 200 GW, and offshore wind energy should attain 30 GW.

Nevertheless, the economy minister rejected calls for the country to reconsider shutting nuclear and coal power sources amidst the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

It should be noted that half of the German imports are from Russian gas and cutting them down will be tricky for the largest economy of Europe.

Source credit: https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/germany-hike-onshore-wind-solar-tender-volumes-document-2022-02-28/