At the Federal Delegates' Conference held in Hanover at the end of November, the German Green Party (Die Grünen) adopted a series of important resolutions aimed at ushering in a new phase of the energy transition, ensuring its economic viability, digitalization, and broad public involvement.

I. Core Strategy: The Energy Transition 2.0 Plan

The party passed the "Energy Transition 2.0" plan, which encompasses 50 specific measures. The core goals of this plan are to:

1. Make the energy transition process more economically efficient.

2. Advance the digitalization of the energy system.

3. Ensure the transition is more aligned with the needs of the public and society.

Furthermore, a motion on social climate policy was adopted to provide necessary social support during the ecological transformation of the economy.

II. Groundbreaking Concept: Promoting Universal Solar Sharing

The Green Party introduced a resolution aimed at fostering broad public participation through a "Solar Sharing" concept.

According to this proposed concept, consumers would receive 600 hours of free solar energy credit during the summer through a "Solar Bonus" mechanism, utilizing unused surplus electricity.

Sven Giegold, the Deputy Federal Chairman of the party, hailed this idea as the Green Party's "pioneering new concept." The current focus of the resolution is to establish this goal, with a "detailed concept" and implementation framework to be developed subsequently.

III. Promotion and Incentive Mechanisms for Photovoltaics (PV)

The Green Party put forward the following specific suggestions regarding PV promotion, aiming to maximize resource utilization and ensure project viability:

• Rooftop PV Systems (Self-Consumption and Grid Feed-in): They propose maintaining the current Feed-in Tariff (FIT) incentive mechanism. However, they suggest a moderate adjustment of the compensation rate to reflect the ongoing reduction in PV system costs. This is intended to ensure that "citizen-owned solar projects remain economically viable" in all regions and that rooftop potential is fully utilized.

• Ground-Mounted PV Systems: The focus is on optimizing tender design, emphasizing the need to limit leasing costs, protect agricultural use, and create ecological added value. Future policy will specifically address ecologically valuable areas such as marshlands and Agri-PV (agricultural photovoltaics) projects.

IV. Reform of the Energy System and Market Mechanisms

To accelerate the energy transition, the Green Party will concentrate on improving market mechanisms and the legal framework:

• Development of the EEG (Renewable Energy Sources Act): Commitment to further developing the EEG to keep pace with the energy transition and the goal of achieving 100% renewable energy.

• Guarantees and Priority: Ambitious expansion targets and tender volumes must be guaranteed, along with the statutory right to connect renewable energy to the grid and its priority feed-in right.

• Balancing Risk and Reward: In the short term, the party is focusing on Contracts for Difference (CfD) for large PV systems and wind energy. This mechanism is designed to provide investors with stable returns while simultaneously preventing projects from generating excess profits at the expense of the public interest.