New incentive for tenants' solar power supply (Mieterstrom)
The aim is to promote the expansion of solar power plants on residential buildings. The German Govern-ment sees a high potential as it considers 3.8 million rental apartments to come into question for tenants' solar power supply. As Mieterstrom qualifies electricity produced in a solar power plant with a maximum capacity of 100 kW installed on, at or in a residential building, if at least 40 per cent of the building's area is used for living and if the electricity will be consumed in a direct spatial context.
Up to now the sale of solar power to tenants was not profitable for the landlord as operator of the solar power plant. Under the new provisions of the Germany Renewable Energy Law (EEG), the landlord will – in addition to the sales proceeds – receive an extra payment per kWh, depending on the size of the solar power plant. The extra payment will be financed by the EEG-levy to be paid by the final energy consumer. Any surplus electricity not supplied to the tenants will be fed into the public grid and remunerated by a fixed feed-in tariff. The tenants can profit from lower electricity prices as apart from the EEG levy no fee will be charged on the electricity supply.
The new provisions will enter into force within the next weeks. The promotion of Mieterstrom solar power plants is limited to an overall installed capacity of 500 megawatt per year.
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