Germany’s national energy agency, Bundesnetzagentur, has announced that it has approved 244 new projects that will generate electricity from biomass, adding a total of 187.3 megawatts of power. This move highlights the country’s ongoing effort to expand its renewable energy sources through a system that encourages competition, reports Bioenergy Insight.
This selection process is part of Germany’s main law for renewable energy, known as the Renewable Energy Sources Act (EEG). Its purpose is to fairly and clearly distribute government support for projects that produce clean energy. Under this law, there are specific goals each year for how much new biomass energy capacity should be added, with a certain amount put up for bids annually.
The 244 projects that were chosen use different ways to create energy from organic materials, including plants that make biogas and facilities that use solid biomass. These projects are spread out across various parts of Germany. This helps to distribute renewable energy production more widely and makes the country’s energy supply more secure.
The projects that won approval will receive financial help through a system called the “market premium model” from the EEG. This means that the project operators will be paid the difference between the current market price for electricity and a set payment level. This approach is designed to encourage efficient and affordable energy production, reducing the reliance on older systems where a fixed price was paid for all renewable energy.
