Nine files, examined

Context Germany entered 2025 with renewables supplying more than half of its electricity consumption (54.4 per cent in 2024), with a legal target of 80 per cent by 2030 and with electricity prices for business among the highest in the EU. Planning for grids and generation rested on an assumed 2030 demand of 750 TWh. In May 2025 Reiche announced a "Realitätscheck" (reality check) of these assumptions.

Objective To test whether the build-out of renewables, grids and backup capacity matched realistic demand, and to bring down system costs.

Policy / action On 15 September 2025 she presented the monitoring report Energiewende.Effizient.Machen, about 260 pages written by the Energiewirtschaftliches Institut (EWI) at the University of Cologne and BET Consulting. It put 2030 demand at 600–700 TWh. Reiche said the ministry expected it to be "eher am unteren Ende" (rather at the lower end), but kept the 80 per cent target. Alongside the report she published a ten-point plan. The plan aligns renewables and grids with the lower demand range and ends fixed feed-in tariffs and payments at negative prices in favour of two-sided contracts for difference. It calls for a technology-neutral capacity market, starting with hydrogen-ready gas plants, a faster smart-meter rollout, cuts to subsidy programmes, a more "pragmatic" hydrogen ramp-up, and CCS/CCU as a climate technology.

"The expansion of renewable energy is undoubtedly a great success – almost 60 percent of our electricity already comes from wind, sun and co."

„Der Ausbau der Erneuerbaren Energien ist zweifellos ein großer Erfolg – heute stammen schon fast 60 Prozent unseres Stroms aus Wind, Sonne und Co."

Context With nuclear power ended in April 2023 and coal power to end by 2038 at the latest, Germany needs dispatchable capacity for periods of low wind and sun. Robert Habeck's 2023 plan had envisaged 23.8 GW of new gas capacity. The May 2025 coalition agreement spoke of "up to 20 GW by 2030". Because such plants need subsidies, the European Commission had to approve the scheme under state-aid rules.

Objective To secure supply once coal plants close, through new gas plants that can later switch to hydrogen, and later through a technology-neutral capacity market.

Policy / action The coalition committee set the key points on 13 November 2025. On 15 January 2026 the government announced an agreement in principle with the Commission: 12 GW to be tendered in 2026, made up of 10 GW of "long-term" capacity, mainly gas plants that must be hydrogen-ready and decarbonised by 2045 at the latest, and 2 GW open to any technology. The plants are to run by 2031, and further tenders are planned for 2027 and 2029/30. The Strom-Versorgungssicherheits- und Kapazitätengesetz (StromVKG) passed the Bundestag on 9 July 2026. It also provides for a technology-neutral capacity market from 2032. According to Tagesschau, as cited by German Wikipedia, the Commission approved up to €35 billion in support on 2 September 2026.

The first auction round, for 4,500 MW, closed on 8 September 2026. The Bundesnetzagentur called it "deutlich überzeichnet" (significantly oversubscribed). Bids are capped at €244,000 per MW per year, contracts run for 15 years, and awards are due by 3 November 2026. A second 4.5 GW round is scheduled for December 2026 and a 2 GW round for May 2027.

Context In the second half of 2025 German businesses buying 500–2,000 MWh a year paid €22.64 per 100 kWh, against an EU average of €18.37, the third-highest price in the EU according to Eurostat. Output in energy-intensive industry fell 15.2 per cent between February 2022 and March 2026, against 9.5 per cent for industry as a whole (Destatis).

Objective To lower electricity and gas costs quickly, especially for manufacturing, without permanently dismantling price signals.

Policy / action From 1 January 2026 the gas storage levy was abolished. A €6.5 billion federal subsidy cut transmission-grid fees for 2026. The electricity tax for more than 600,000 manufacturing, agricultural and forestry companies was cut permanently to the EU minimum, worth about €3 billion a year. The government puts the total at about €10 billion a year, on top of the €17 billion already spent on taking over the EEG levy, and estimates a saving of about €160 a year for a household. On 16 April 2026 the European Commission approved an industrial electricity price under its CISAF state-aid framework. It is worth €3.8 billion for 2026–2028 and is open to about 9,500 companies in 91 sectors. It targets 5 ct/kWh by covering up to half of the wholesale price on at most half of a company's consumption, and at least half of the aid must be reinvested.

"For the very first time, we are creating the framework for an industrial electricity price that specifically relieves the energy-intensive industries so important to Germany."

„Erstmals überhaupt schaffen wir den Rahmen für einen Industriestrompreis, mit dem wir speziell die für Deutschland wichtigen energieintensiven Industrien entlasten."

Context Solar capacity grew by 16.4 GW in 2025 to 117 GW, against a 2030 target of 215 GW. Rapid growth of small systems strained distribution grids and raised redispatch costs. The EU's state-aid approval of the EEG 2023 expires at the end of 2026, so a new law was needed in any case.

Objective To make renewable support more market-based and to align connections with grid capacity, in line with point two of the ten-point plan.

Policy / action In August 2025 Reiche said that new small solar systems paid for themselves and needed no support. A ministry draft of 26 February 2026 ended fixed tariffs for new systems up to 25 kW. After objections from the SPD ministers Lars Klingbeil and Carsten Schneider, a softened plan followed on 17 July 2026. The cabinet adopted it with the grid package on 29 July 2026. New rooftop systems under 25 kW get no fixed tariff from 2027. Instead they receive a 36-month transition payment of 5.2 ct/kWh, followed by direct marketing with a 1.5 ct/kWh bonus for up to four years. Existing systems keep their rates. Grid-congestion "hotspots" with limited curtailment compensation are introduced. Connections move from "first come, first served" to a maturity principle. The 80 per cent target for 2030 is confirmed.

"We are ending the EEG as an all-inclusive, worry-free package."

„Wir beenden das EEG als Rundum-sorglos-Paket."

Context The 2023 Buildings Energy Act (GEG), known as the "heating law", required new heating systems to run on at least 65 per cent renewable energy and was among the most contested measures of the previous government. Building-sector emissions rose by 3.4 Mt in 2025, according to the Federal Environment Agency.

Objective To replace the 65 per cent rule with free choice of technology while keeping a path to lower emissions.

Policy / action Prepared jointly with Building Minister Verena Hubertz (SPD), the Gebäudemodernisierungsgesetz (GModG) was adopted by the cabinet on 13 May 2026. It restores free choice between gas, oil, heat pumps, district heating, biomass and hybrids. A "Biotreppe" (bio-fuel staircase) requires at least 10 per cent climate-friendly fuels from 2029, rising to 15 per cent in 2030, 30 per cent in 2035 and 60 per cent in 2040. Landlords and tenants share the risks of grid fees, CO₂ prices and biogas costs equally. The Bundestag and Bundesrat passed it on 10 July 2026, and it entered into force, in parts, on 29 July 2026.

Political position The joint press release presented the law as replacing one that had unsettled many people with one based on trust, technology openness and feasibility, with less ideology and more pragmatism. The original wording is known only from a search excerpt of the ministry page, so it is paraphrased here.