Germany’s Federal Court postpones verdict on battery grid charges

With Germany’s Federal Court of Justice yesterday set to rule on whether grid companies have the right to levy “construction cost subsidy” charges on grid connected batteries – and how much – all eyes in the storage industry were on the city of Karlsruhe.

The BVES, however, announced no decision had been reached by the judges.

“This means that an urgently needed clarification is still pending – to the detriment of all parties involved and to the detriment of the energy system,” said the trade body. The delay, said the BVES, was “incomprehensible and detrimental to the necessary expansion of flexibility technology in the energy system.”

With the court expected to announce a new date for the decision, on its website, a spokesperson for the Federal Office for Consumer Protection told pv magazine that date could be months away.

The case

The case dates back to a 1,725 kW/3.45 MWh standalone energy storage facility for which developer Kyon Energy submitted a grid connection application in May 2021. The local electricity distribution system operator assigned a connection and levied a construction cost subsidy calculated in line with a position paper published by German utilities regulator the Federal Network Agency.

In June 2022, Kyon asked the Federal Network Agency to either block the construction cost subsidy or recalculate it in accordance with section 31 of Germany’s Energy Industry Act (EnWG). The regulator refused, in December 2022, and Kyon appealed. In December 2023, the Düsseldorf Higher Regional Court (OLG) overturned the Federal Network Agency’s refusal and stated a construction cost subsidy based on the regulator’s capacity pricing model was discriminatory against energy storage projects and thus violated section 17 (1) sentence 1 of the EnWG.

A subsequent appeal of that decision, by the regulator, has brought the case before the Federal Court of Justice.

Urban Windelen, federal managing director of the BVES energy storage group said, “We already have a legal classification of storage by definition in the Energy Industry Act: ‘Storage shifts energy use.’ The legal consequences must now finally be drawn from this. Grid regulation must be further developed to do justice to this new function of storage in the energy system.”

Further delays would be unacceptable for the industry, Windelen added.

The Federal Network Agency responded to the decision by the Düsseldorf court by publishing a new construction cost subsidy position paper in the fall. Germany’s Federal Association of Electrical and Electronic Equipment said the updated document contradicted the OLG’s ruling on key points, sowing uncertainty and delaying energy storage investment in the country.

“This uncertainty not only hinders many storage projects and private-sector investments, but also complicates the work of grid operators,” said the BVES’ Windelen. “Planning processes are delayed, costs are rising, and important [grid] flexibility solutions are falling by the wayside – despite the political will for more flexibility, rapid storage expansion, and the reduction of duplication of burdens and bureaucratic hurdles.”

The Federal Network Agency and legislators, Windelen said, should quickly develop “legally sound and practical solutions” even without the Federal Court of Justice’s final decision.

From pv magazine Deutschland.