As the fallen coalition government was not able to implement its Power Plant Safety Act (KWSG), the energy and water companies association BDEW is calling for a quick restart immediately after the federal elections.

„The expansion of controllable power plant capacity remains highly time-critical, and belongs on the 100-day agenda of the next federal government,“ emphasised Kerstin Andreae, Chairwoman of the BDEW Executive Board. „We need gigawatts.“ This is the only way to guarantee supply and system security in the energy sector and, at the same time, implement the coal phase-out.

Based on the KWSG, which had already received the green light from Brussels but will no longer be passed by the Bundestag following the collapse of the traffic light coalition, 12.5 gigawatts (GW) of new, hydrogen-capable gas-fired power plants should have been put out to tender from the beginning of 2025.

This was also intended to secure the further expansion of renewable energies. According to the BDEW, this expansion continued in 2024: Renewables accounted for 58% (previous year: 54%) of gross electricity generation in Germany. Almost a quarter of the electricity comes from onshore wind turbines (24%). Solar rose to a share of 15%.

According to the BDEW, however, the solar boom is also causing challenges in terms of grid stability. This is because around half of the installed capacity of photovoltaic (PV) systems is below the 100-kilowatt limit and, therefore, potentially feeds into the electricity grid in an uncoordinated manner. The energy association is therefore calling for a so-called active power limit to be introduced before the general election, to be able to regulate PV peaks.

Andreae pointed out that the security of supply in Germany is currently still among the best in the world and is, therefore, also a positive business location factor. Grid expansion is also bearing fruit: The costs caused by grid bottlenecks will have fallen to 2 billion euros in 2024 – down from 3.2 billion euros and 4.2 billion euros, respectively, in previous years. According to Andreae, the fact that electricity imports have risen from 7.3 to 23.5 billion kilowatt hours has nothing to do with shortages, but rather with the respective prices and, therefore, the result of the EU internal electricity market.

The energy sector hopes that the Combined Heat and Power Act will also be extended before the election, and that faster authorisation procedures provided for in the new EU Renewable Energies Directive will be made permanent. BDEW would be in favour of readjusting the Heating Act after the election. The rules should be simplified. Andreae also suggested tackling electricity costs once again, for example by reducing the electricity tax. This could save around 6.5 billion euros.