The first thematic workshop and virtual policy round table (“policy lab”) of the German stakeholder desk took place online on 30 March 2021. The workshop was titled “The Future of Community Wind Power - How Should an Enabling Framework for Renewable Energy Communities Look Like?"

Amongst the 70 stakeholders participating in the event there were representatives of the European Commission, the federal parliament, the state parliaments of Thuringia and Schleswig-Holstein and the state ministries, public authorities, energy and business development agencies, energy cooperatives and their associations, community wind farms, renewable energy associations, competence centres, municipal utility companies, project developers, financing institutions, consumer organisations and civil society.

The stakeholder policy dialogue on the transposition and implementation of the Renewable Energy Directive (RED II) in Germany also  discussed the implications for the federal states, especially in Thuringia and Schleswig-Holstein.

In addition to expert contributions, including from the European Commission, the European Committee of the Regions and the Federal Network Agency, an interactive session  gave all participants the opportunity to discuss specific aspects concerning renewable energy communities (RECs). The highlight of the event was a virtual round table (“policy lab”) with public decision-makers from the European, federal, state (Länder) and municipal level.

The event was organised by the Environmental Policy Research Centre of Freie Universität Berlin in cooperation with the Wind Energy Service Unit of the Thuringian Energy and GreenTech Agency (ThEGA) and Dr. Bettina Knothe, Consultant for Participatory Sustainability.

Issues which have been highlighted include:

• Transposition process and gaps in Germany (e.g. definitions, energy sharing)
• How to avoid misuse of the concept of RECs
• Enabling framework for RECs (e.g. consideration of RECs in the auction system and in spatial planning, design of a community energy fund in Thuringia etc.)
• Competition by new actors including green financial investors
• Measures to increase added value and local acceptance of RECs
• Direct and indirect forms of financial participation of municipalities and citizens.

The next activities of the German country desk will comprise a thematic workshop in June or at the beginning of September 2021 and a regular country desk meeting towards the end of the year.

The documentation of the event in German language and a summary in English will be available soon on the COME RES website.