Renewable energy
Association considers traffic light solar plans to be realistic
Solar panels on a tiled roof. photo
© Sebastian Gollnow/dpa/symbol picture
The expansion of renewable energies needs a boost. This also includes the expansion of solar energy. However, private homeowners must not be overwhelmed by this, emphasizes the Haus und Grund owners’ association before a state parliament debate on the subject.
According to the Haus und Grund owners’ association in Rhineland-Palatinate, the solar package recently presented by the traffic light groups is a step in the right direction. “There is a ray of hope on the horizon,” said association director Ralf Schönfeld of the German Press Agency in Mainz. The measures with which the parliamentary groups of SPD, Greens and FDP want to give the expansion of solar energy a boost maintained a sense of proportion. Schönfeld sees a more far-reaching draft by the opposition CDU parliamentary group for an amendment to the state solar law much more critically.
Both the traffic light factions and the CDU opposition want solar energy to be expanded, be it with photovoltaics (PV) on roofs or in open spaces. However, there are differences in the path that each side wants to take. While the CDU parliamentary group also wants solar power to be compulsory for new private houses or for extensive roof renovations, the traffic light parliamentary groups do not go quite so far and propose an obligation to install devices to simplify subsequent retrofitting of a PV system.
House and reason firmly reject the CDU draft, said Schönfeld. “That’s completely exaggerated.” It would further increase the costs for owners, while at the same time the federal government in Berlin is thinking very specifically about a future ban on oil and gas heating. That would also have a significant impact on a large area like Rhineland-Palatinate, where there are still many oil heating systems.
Some owners can shy away from investing in the face of excessive government requirements – and that in times when living space is needed. Also, craftsmen are difficult to get, there is a lack of material and parts. In total, replacing an oil heating system with a heat pump and installing a PV system in a single-family home could total 50,000 euros or more. If better insulation is needed in order to be able to work sensibly with a heat pump, it could well be in the six-figure range.
If the obligation in private houses is initially limited to the installation of empty pipes and cables, for example, in order to facilitate the later installation of PV systems, that would be pragmatic, said Schönfeld. In some places it takes a little more time, more funding incentives and more flexible funding instead of bans.
