German Industry Presses Government for Rise in Electricity Payments

The industry is particularly concern about the returns for the low output plants of around 150kw.

At present the plants receive between 16-17 Eurocents per kilowatt hour and the industry is seeking a rise to between 20 and 23 cents.

“The industry is particularly concerned for the small producers, because it is more expensive than for producers of 500kw or larger,” said Bastian Olzem from the German Biogas Association.

“In the last two years, Germany has seen many more larger plants being built between 300 and 800 kw. Most of the smaller plants were built in the 1990s in the Bavarian region.”

The boom in the biogas industry in Germany really started in 2004 when the new legislation controlling the prices of electricity sold to the national grid were laid down in the EEG legislation.

The biogas association, Fachverband Biogas e.V, is now hoping that changes will be made to the payments for the electricity generated in a new bill to be put before the German parliament on 5 December.

Mr Olzem said that while there is a proposal to put an extra 6 cents per house for smaller plants, the association would like to see between 8 cents and 9 cents per hour with an extra 2 cents for those plants producing both heat and electricity.

At present the base payments are between 8 cents and 11 cents and these are topped up by another 6 cents for those plants using crop based materials for gas production such as maize and wheat. There is another 2 cents per kilowatt hour for producing electricity and heat and then a further 2 cents for using special new technologies.

While the base for smaller plants is between 8 cents and 11 cents the base for 500 kw plants is 9 cents per hour and for 500 kw to 5megawatts is 8 cents per kilowatt hour.

Mr Olzem said that the price of wheat and maize is at present not making the use of alternative fuels viable and they will be pressing the government hard for more money, particularly for the small plants.

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