The federal cabinet of Germany has approved the amendments to the Renewable Energy Sources Act, intending to achieve its goal to expand renewable energy up to 65% by 2030.

Germany’s Federal Economics Minister Peter Altmaier introduced the EEG amendments 2021 in the federal cabinet meeting.

The government’s renewable expansion path by 2030 will be included in the law aimed to achieve its targets by 2030. Through these amendments, the federal government would now target annual solar tenders of nearly 1.9 to 2 GW capacity, onshore wind between 2.9 and 5.8 GW, along with nearly 500 MW of biomass energy.

The government plans to enhance the country’s cumulative capacity of solar from the current 52 GW to 83 GW in 2026, and 100 GW in 2030. Germany is also expected to expand the cumulative capacity for onshore wind project from the current 54 GW to 65 GW in 2026, and 71 GW in 2030.

“In the amendment, we are for the first time legally formulating the goal of greenhouse gas neutrality before 2050 for the electricity generated and consumed in Germany. In addition, we are increasing the acceptance of the expansion of renewables and enable municipalities to participate financially in the expansion of onshore wind. We also pay attention to the urgently needed synchronization between renewables and grid expansion,” said Peter Altmaier, Federal Minister of Economics.

The federal cabinet also approved the amendments to the Federal Requirements Plans Act with regulations for expanding the electricity grid. The amendments were passed to help the electric grid expansion coincide with renewable energy scale up and bolster the supply of energy to consumption centers.

According to the latest numbers announced by the federal network agency Bundesnetzagentur, Germany’s cumulative solar capacity at the end of July was 51.98 GW. Nearly 2.4 GW of solar was added in the first half of the calendar year 2020, as compared to 2.1 GW during the same period last year.