Germany's Free Democrats push to exempt new renewables from windfall tax - report

Germany's Free Democrats (FDP) are pushing to exempt new renewable energy projects from the planned levy on windfall earnings in the country, business daily Handelsblatt reports.

The new tax should apply only to existing green power plants, according to FDP.

An exemption of new renewable energy systems would send an important signal that the government is doing its best to achieve the ambitious targets for renewable energy expansion, Lukas Koehler, deputy chairman of the FDP parliamentary group, told the paper.

The German government is working on a proposal to introduce a tax on windfall earnings that should generate part of the revenues required for the planned electricity price brake.

The plan has faced vehement opposition from the green energy industry which fears that it will lead to a deterioration in the investment climate for renewables and would make power purchase agreements (PPAs) for wind and solar projects unattractive.

Germany is exiting fossil energy and at the same time is wreaking havoc on renewable energy, thus willingly and unnecessarily risking the progress made so far in the energy transition, Simone Peter, head of the Federal Association of Renewable Energy (BEE), said earlier this week.

Choose your newsletter by Renewables Now. Join for free!