Baden-Wuerttemberg raises annual limit for solar parks to 500 MW

The German state of Baden-Wuerttemberg has lifted the annual cap for the installation of new ground-mounted solar parks to 500 MW from 100 MW as the state needs to add much more capacity to reach its goals.

The state's Council of Ministers decided on Tuesday to amend the existing law in an effort to enable as many projects from the state as possible to participate in the Federal Network Agency's tenders for ground-mounted photovoltaic (PV) plants in areas designated as "less favoured".

Baden-Wuerttemberg will be able to achieve its climate protection goals and cut its dependence on Russian fossil energy supplies if more ground-mounted solar plants are built, according to the state's secretary for energy Andre Baumann.

Additionally, the green power supply is becoming increasingly important for companies when choosing a location. Therefore, the state must provide areas for the deployment of such capacity in order to remain competitive compared to northern Germany, Baumann added.

Calculations by the Solar Cluster Baden-Wuerttemberg show that the state needs to connect to the grid about 600 MW of ground-mounted solar power plants per year in order to reach its share of the climate targets. However, the bulk of the targeted 2 GW of photovoltaic capacity annually is expected to come from rooftop and facade installations as Germany's southwest region is densely populated.

The legislative change was prepared by the state's task force that was formed last October to support the roll-out of renewables in Baden-Wuerttemberg. Since then, the approval process for new wind turbines in the state has been simplified, removing the objection procedure and about 15,000 hectares have been excluded from the list of protected areas, providing more space for wind parks.

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