BVES clo­sed ses­sion 2025: Stra­te­gic demands for a suc­cessful energy tran­si­tion

After­wards, the group went under­ground to visit the cavern of the Säckin­gen pum­ped sto­rage power plant.

Sup­port from poli­tics

On the second day, par­ti­ci­pants focu­sed on joint ana­ly­ses and stra­te­gic con­side­ra­ti­ons for 2025. A key topic was the upco­ming fede­ral elec­tion and the draf­ting of key pro­po­sals for the new fede­ral govern­ment. Maria-Lena Weiss, Mem­ber of the Bun­des­tag (CDU), con­tri­bu­ted actively to the dis­cus­sions and empha­si­zed the need for bet­ter frame­work con­di­ti­ons for the coming legis­la­tive period.

The dis­cus­sion con­tin­ued on the third day with Rita Schwar­zelühr-Sut­ter, MP (SPD). As the MP for the con­sti­tuency to which Schluch­see AG belongs, she high­ligh­ted the importance of energy tran­si­tion tech­no­lo­gies for Ger­many’s com­pe­ti­ti­ve­ness.

On top of this, Schluch­see­werk AG — the ope­ra­tor of the five pum­ped sto­rage plants — offe­red valuable insights into their tech­no­logy. On the first day, the par­ti­ci­pants visi­ted the cavern of the Säckin­gen pum­ped sto­rage power plant, deep in the moun­tain. The fol­lo­wing day, they visi­ted the Häu­sern pum­ped sto­rage power plant and lear­ned more about its ope­ra­tion as well as the bureau­cra­tic hurd­les invol­ved in large-scale plants.

Final spurt 2030 — Agenda for sto­rage and the energy tran­si­tion

One key con­clu­sion of the clo­sed mee­ting was the urgent need to set the regu­la­tory and eco­no­mic course for a 100% rene­wa­ble elec­tri­city sup­ply in the coming legis­la­tive period. BVES then drew up spe­ci­fic pro­po­sals for legal chan­ges for the elec­tri­city, hea­ting and mobi­lity sec­tors as well as five core requi­re­ments, which were incor­po­ra­ted into the “ Final Sprint 2030” paper:

• Redu­cing bureau­cracy and prio­ri­tiz­ing energy tran­si­tion plants
  The rea­liza­tion of pro­jects in the areas of elec­tri­city, heat and mobi­lity should not be blo­cked by leng­thy appr­oval pro­ce­du­res. It needs fas­ter, digi­ta­li­zed and legally secure pro­ces­ses for grid con­nec­tions and sto­rage inte­gra­tion.
• Adapt mar­ket design — con­sider decen­tra­liza­tion and vola­ti­lity
  The energy mar­ket design needs to be decen­tra­li­zed and respon­sive to vola­ti­lity so that energy, power and sys­tem ser­vices may be traded regio­nally and dyna­mi­cally. This requi­res a com­pre­hen­sive reform of grid fees.
• Focus on sto­rage in con­junc­tion with gene­ra­tion plants
  Co-loca­tion plants sta­bi­lize rene­wa­ble gene­ra­tion and simul­ta­neously opti­mize the use of grid con­nec­tions. This requi­res effi­ci­ent grid con­nec­tion con­cepts and a reform of elec­tri­city balan­cing.
• Incre­asing free­dom for behind-the-meter sys­tems
  The use of energy behind the grid con­nec­tion balan­ces out vola­ti­lity and reli­e­ves the elec­tri­city grid. There is a need for a reform of the grid fee struc­ture, an acce­le­ra­ted smart meter roll­out and bet­ter joint usage con­cepts.
• Acce­le­rate sec­tor cou­pling
  The hea­ting and mobi­lity sec­tors have to be more clo­sely inter­lin­ked with the elec­tri­city sec­tor to effi­ci­ently drive for­ward decar­bo­niza­tion. A sta­ble CO₂ price path and a reform of grid fees must be imple­men­ted to make the shift to rene­wa­bles com­pe­ti­tive.

The BVES will bring these demands into the poli­ti­cal debate and cam­paign for their imple­men­ta­tion in the new legis­la­tive period.