Germany is proposing that renewable energy developers pay for connecting to the grid in new regulations that would replace the current system of first-come, first-served, Reuters reported on Monday, citing a new draft law it has seen.  

The current congestion in the queue for grid connections and the regulations allowing the first applications to be connected is slowing renewables expansion.  

“Connecting generation, storage, and consumption facilities to the electricity grid is facing ever greater challenges,” says the bill proposed by Germany’s economy and energy ministry, as carried by Reuters. 

“In particular, the ongoing flood of applications from large-scale battery storage systems is overloading grid operators and blocking other grid connection applicants,” according to the bill.  

Apart from having renewable energy developers pay for connecting to the grid, the new regulations would aim to encourage the construction of wind, solar, and battery capacity in areas with easier connections for the grid.  

Despite soaring wind and solar installations in recent years, Germany needs to accelerate capacity additions to meet its own renewable energy targets. 

Europe’s biggest economy has a target to have renewables account for 80% of its electricity generation in 2030.    

In solar, Germany is halfway through reaching its 2030 solar power targets, the German Solar Industry Association (BSW-Solar) said in June last year.

The association, however, warned that solar power expansion has slowed and while Germany is halfway there on its solar goals, the next stage to reaching the 2030 targets cannot be taken for granted.

Germany saw the highest number of onshore wind turbines commissioned in the first half of 2025 for eight years, but the rebound in installations is still off track to reach the official targets, the German wind energy association, Bundesverband WindEnergie (BWE), said in the middle of 2025. 

Despite the jump in wind power installations, Germany still has a gap between the rate of capacity expansion and the legally mandated goals in the Renewable Energy Sources Act, the so-called EEG, BWE president Bärbel Heidebroek said in July.   

By Michael Kern for Oilprice.com

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