The restructuring of the grid fee system by the Federal Network Agency (Bundesnetzagentur, BNetzA) under the so-called AgNes process affects all parts of the energy sector, including consumers, generators and storage operators. However, the AgNes process must not undermine investor confidence, as this would significantly increase costs and delay urgently needed investment in the modernisation of the energy system.
Storage facilities are a crucial link between volatile renewable generation and electricity consumers. They balance out fluctuating generation, smooth price peaks and make a fundamental contribution to security of supply and system stability in the course of decarbonisation. They therefore perform a key function in the future energy system.
The fact that, as part of AgNes, BNetzA is now calling into question the grid fee exemption regulated in Section 118 (6) of the German Energy Industry Act (EnWG) has come as a shock to all investors active in the storage sector. The regulation stipulates that storage facilities connected to the grid before 4 August 2029 are exempt from grid fees for 20 years. This future-oriented sector has relied on this – and that is precisely what is now at stake.
The plan to impose grid fees on all storage facilities – in a form and amount that remain unknown – retroactively interferes with the commercial basis of a large number of existing, ongoing and planned storage projects, thereby depriving them of planning certainty. These projects have been or are being implemented in reliance on the provision in the Energy Industry Act.
The foreseeable consequence is that almost all storage projects currently planned up to 2029 will initially be put on hold. According to the consultancy firm Enervis, this amounts to projects totalling 16 GW in the battery storage sector alone. As a result, the urgently needed contribution of these storage facilities to security of supply and system stability would not be available to a sufficient extent for the foreseeable future. There is a risk of misinvestments running into the billions. Confidence in Germany as an investment location and in the energy transition would be severely damaged.
What the storage sector needs now is a short-term clarification from BNetzA that it will grant protection of legitimate expectations of investors in projects that have already been implemented, are currently in the implementation phase, or for which an investment decision has yet to be made.
Contact person within the company: