In the black-red coalition, difficult negotiations are looming over a planned energy package. SPD parliamentary group leader Matthias Miersch warned, with a view to reform plans by Economy Minister Katherina Reiche (CDU), against slowing down the energy transition. Union parliamentary group leader Jens Spahn said at the congress of the German Association of Energy and Water Industries (BDEW) in Berlin that no one wants to stifle the expansion of renewable energies. However, it is about cost efficiency.
Miersch said that the SPD will not allow any form of tampering with the expansion path. By 2030, the share of renewable energies, primarily from wind and solar, in electricity consumption is to rise to 80 percent. In the first quarter of 2026, the share was around 53 percent. Spahn said the expansion target still applies. However, one must gradually move away from a 'subsidy addiction'.
BDEW Managing Director Kerstin Andreae called on the coalition to pass key projects such as a law for the construction of new gas power plants before the summer break. Further central reforms, such as a grid package and an amendment to the Renewable Energy Sources Act (EEG), must be completed by autumn at the latest. Energy policy must not become bargaining chips and be mixed up with other reforms such as pensions.
Controversial Plans
Several of Reiche's projects are currently stuck in internal government coordination, above all an EEG reform and a grid package. Reiche wants to save costs in the energy transition. She aims to better align the expansion of wind and solar plants with the lagging grid expansion. Costly 'curtailments' are to be avoided.
Miersch primarily opposed a 'redispatch reservation' planned by Reiche. If an overload of the power grids threatens, the output of wind and solar plants must be reduced or completely shut down. These interventions are called redispatch and cost a lot of money because operators are entitled to compensation.
Reiche plans that new wind turbines or solar plants in overloaded grid areas may only be built if they waive compensation in the event of curtailment for ten years. There is widespread protest against this. Reiche also wants to abolish subsidies for new small solar systems on house roofs.
