Förderung der Biogaserzeugung durch das EEG - Stellungnahme zur Geplanten Novellierung des Erneuerbare-energien-gesetzes

By presenting this opinion, the Advisory Board states its views on a special segment of bioenergy policy: the promotion of biogas production by means of the Renewable Energy Sources Act (EEG). This was prompted by the Federal Government's plan to amend the EEG before the end of this year. This is the second time that the Advisory Board comments on the Federal Government's bioenergy policy. The opinion follows the comprehensive expert opinion from 2007. The Advisory Board believes that the basic assessments and recommendations made in this opinion are still valid. This includes the assessment that solar and wind energy is expected to increasingly gain ground in the second half of the century within the portfolio of renewable energies and that technological progress will make a concentration on efficient energy technologies increasingly attractive at the expense of support on a broad base. The Advisory Council believes that the current promotion of biogas through the EEG is linked to a number of disadvantages. It is not convincing in terms of climate policy due to very high carbon avoidance costs and its prospects of bringing about drastic technological changes and the resulting cost reductions are very limited. It can only make a relatively small contribution to energy supply. At the same time, it causes problematic changes in the agricultural structure and makes agriculture dependent on policy again. Finally, it tends to increase agricultural prices, thus putting a strain on consumers. With respect to the general orientation of the EEG, the Advisory Board recommends that the core idea behind the EEG should be to promote the technological development of various renewable energy sources so as to significantly improve their efficiency and to reach the competitive threshold within a reasonably short period of time. Bioenergy technologies with carbon avoidance costs well above 100 € per ton and no clearly visible improvement in the course of time should not be supported any more. With regard to the other bioenergy technologies, it should be explicitly stated which specific targets the promotion is expected to reach and by when. The evaluation enshrined in the EEG should primarily be targeted at assessing the different bioenergy technologies on the basis of their carbon avoidance costs and the way they have changed over time. All in all, the Advisory Board concludes that the promotion of biogas production should not be continued in its current form. With respect to the future orientation of the promotion of biogas within the EEG, the Advisory Council recommends, among other things, to abolish the bonus for biogas from renewable resources for new installations. The basic remuneration should be maintained and the slurry bonus significantly increased in order to promote the construction of "pure" slurry plants. However, the slurry bonus should only be envisaged for plants using a minimum of 95 % mass fraction of slurry. The Advisory Council believes that a scaling of the slurry bonus according to the plant size is worth considering. The remaining bonuses should be abolished as their regulatory effects in the past have been limited.