At its meeting today
the Federal Cabinet adopted the national renewable energy action
plan presented by Federal Environment Minister Norbert Röttgen.

The action plan outlines that the binding target of an 18
percent share of renewable energies in gross final energy
consumption will be reached by 2020 and may even be surpassed with
an expected share of almost 20 percent. Currently this share is
about 10 percent.

Minister Röttgen commented: “The road to the renewables era is
ambitious and technically demanding. We need a significant increase
in energy efficiency if we are to reach our goals. Additionally,
electricity grids and storage capacities need to be expanded in
view of the expected increase in offshore wind energy and growing
electricity trade. The Federal government’s energy concept will
outline the key elements in this area.”

For individual sectors, the action plan stipulates shares for
2020: a 15.5 percent share for renewable energies in the
heat/cooling sector, a share of 38.6 percent in electricity and a
share of 13.2 percent in transport.

These expansion figures and the overall 19.6 percent mark do not
constitute new targets of the Federal government, they are current
estimates and expectations. In connection with the legally binding
18 percent target, the Federal government had already defined and
legally stipulated sectoral targets before the national action plan
was drawn up.

By 2020, for instance, the share of
renewable energies in electricity consumption is to be at least 30
percent, the share in the heat sector 14 percent. These sectoral
targets will remain valid.

In its national action plan the Federal government lists in
detail existing and future measures, instruments and policies for
the promotion of the use of renewable energy.

The measures and instruments required for achieving this goal,
e.g. the Renewable Energy Sources Act (EEG), have basically been
established, but they will be regularly evaluated and further
developed in the future.

The national renewable energy action plan is the core element of
reporting obligations laid down in the EU’s Renewable Energy
Directive. Based on a specific template EU member states must
submit a national renewable energy action plan, including measures
and expansion strategies geared towards achieving the binding
national target.