Einspeisetarife vs. Ausschreibungen – Chancen und Risiken der EEG Reform 2017

The German Renewable Energy Law (EEG) has without doubt fostered the strong increase in renewable energy in Germany. It has been criticized though for its high cost and a too rapid and cost-intensive development of renewable energy. The 2017-reform of the EEG tries to address these two criticisms by moving from feed-in-tariffs to competitive procurements by tender to manage future development of renewable energy.  Still, it wants to maintain diversity of investors to give also small renewable energy firms and citizen-co-operations a chance to participate in the tenders. This article evaluates the 2017-reform of the EEG based on the criteria cost-efficiency, innovation effects and ecological effectivity. It concludes that the EEG 2017 improves the preconditions for a controlled development of renewable energy and has the potential to increase cost-efficiency. Yet, there is potentially a negative impact on investor diversity and the readiness to invest.