Following significant criticism of the planned grid feed-in fees for photovoltaic (PV) systems, Minister of Economic Affairs Wolfgang Hattmannsdorfer (ÖVP) now announces exemptions for small systems.

No Grid Tariffs for Small PV Systems

"We are setting a maximum contribution for grid usage fees and creating an exemption for smaller, grid-friendly systems," it was stated in a press release on Thursday. In an interview with the Ö1-Morgenjournal, he defends the grid fees for electricity producers in principle.

"It cannot be that the increasing grid fees are paid by 3.5 million households, while 500,000 households also earn money at the wrong time on sunny afternoons with feed-in, and we have to shut down river power plants," he said to ORF radio. The background is the planned Electricity Industry Act (ElWG), for which the government of ÖVP, SPÖ, and NEOS also needs approval in parliament from the FPÖ or the Greens.

Details of the Exemption Not Yet Known

It is not yet known how high the grid fees set by E-Control should be at most and from when a system is considered "small." "We will now discuss this in the coalition," said Hattmannsdorfer. By autumn, the draft is to be brought to parliament to start negotiations for the required two-thirds majority.

The Minister of Economic Affairs also announced further refinements in the ElWG to increase the "attractiveness of storage technologies." Furthermore, they want to tie future subsidies to the condition that subsidized systems also include a storage element.

(APA/Red)

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