Everyone should be able to participate and profit from it. This is what we are committed to and we are proud to have been making our contribution to this for almost 40 years now - for a clean future and a world worth living in.
Action instead of lip service
The vision will only become reality if there is a change of direction in politics. The lip service paid by climate alliances and others must finally be followed by action. We need a policy that puts the dynamic expansion of renewable energies and photovoltaics as the more cost-effective, most popular and most flexible technology at the centre of action.
The necessary measures have long been known. To list them would go beyond the scope of this article. We do not have a knowledge deficit about what needs to be done. What we have is an implementation deficit - and this in key areas of the federal government.
Significantly more photovoltaics on the roofs
We are in the middle of an energy transition phase in which significantly more photovoltaics must be installed on roofs. The very idea of slowing down a quarter of Germany's expansion by introducing untested tenders on a miniature scale at this time, or the plan to reduce the open space tenders again from 2022, which has been put forward in all seriousness, show the degree of dogmatism and pusillanimity we are dealing with.
This prevents trades, small and medium-sized enterprises, consumers and investors from finally getting started, boosting the economy and limiting climate change.
Raise expansion targets
The most important thing is to raise the expansion targets. It is a dangerous and expensive illusion to assume that electricity consumption will fall by 2030. The opposite will be the case. We need at least ten gigawatts of photovoltaics annually in order not to open up an electricity gap in view of the nuclear and coal phase-out.
See also: Leaders of our industry: Udo Möhrstedt of IBC Solar
Within this dynamic framework, rooftop systems, open spaces and storage units must be strengthened. We reject the conversion of a quarter of the German market for roofs of 500 kilowatts to 750 kilowatts from fixed payments to tenders without any experience.
Gambling is no policy
This is not politics, it is gambling. France has shown that roof tenders are more expensive and inefficient. That is why they are returning to fixed tariffs. Before a new system is introduced, it must first be tested and, if it is to work, it must be simple and unbureaucratic.
In our opinion, it is illegal to gag and bully prosumers. Self-supply without levies must be changed from the exception to the rule by 30 June 2021 at the latest. European law is crystal clear on this point. The multiple regulations against self-consumption will then no longer be sustainable. The federal government must finally rethink this.
Stop discriminating against self-consumption
Not only should the self-consumption tax on unsubsidised self-consumption of up to 30 kilowatts be abolished. Rather, there must also be an end to discrimination against self-consumption for subsidised systems and even more so for subsidised systems.
With the proposals for the introduction of smart meters, the federal government is doing a disservice to this important technology. The smart meter rollout must happen with consumers and investors and not be enforced against them. That is why the partly unnecessary and far too expensive regulations urgently need to be reconsidered.
Udo Möhrstedt is the founder and Managing Director of IBC Solar in Bad Staffelstein.
