A draft law that regulates offshore wind liability issues and lowers the limit on damages that grid operators must pay for delays when connecting offshore wind farms to the grid has been approved by German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s cabinet and will take effect later this year.
So far, grid operators who link offshore wind farms to the land had to compensate wind farm operators for connection failures. According to the new law, some of the cost will be passed on to consumers, who will pay additional charge of about EUR 10 a year (about EUR 750 million in total).
Economy Minister Philipp Roesler is quoted by Reuters as saying: “The energy switch is a huge, long-term project which demands all our efforts and it cannot be completed without a cost. The new rules ensure there is a fair distribution of the burden.”
Also, the new law allows grid operators to determine connection dates more freely.
[mappress]
Offshore WIND Staff, November 30, 2012