Since September 2018, balcony PV modules may generally be connected in every apartment. Berlin has now greatly simplified the registration process. Berliners can thus become their own energy supplier with little effort and save cash.
Stromnetz Berlin GmbH has now greatly simplified the registration process. It now only requires an A4 sheet, which can be downloaded from the company's website. Various stakeholders from the ranks of Berlin's solar associations and companies collaborated on this simplification.
Balcony modules are already available for less than 300 euros and can recoup their initial costs through saved electricity costs after about four to six years. Due to manufacturer guarantees of up to 25 years for many of the devices, returns of up to 15 percent per year are possible. Before buying, it is essential to compare offers and prices.
market overviews, the DGS - German Society for Solar Energy offers the platform pvplug.com an. In addition, MachDeinenStrom.de is considered a reputable portal.
5th Symposium on Citizen Energy & Energy Cooperatives in NRW
Photo: EnergyAgency.NRW
Recklinghausen. Energy in the hands of citizens: This was the topic of the specialist conference on citizen energy & energy cooperatives in North Rhine-Westphalia on Thursday, 6 December, in Recklinghausen. Around 80 stakeholders in community energy met there to exchange experiences and transfer knowledge. The 5th symposium is a cooperation of the Cooperative Association - Association of Regions and the EnergyAgency.NRW.
Marlies Diephaus from the Ministry for Economic Affairs, Innovation, Digitalisation and Energy of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia kicked off the conference by emphasising the importance of citizen energy companies: "The energy transition is a major challenge that must be shaped in a positive and forward-looking way here in North Rhine-Westphalia. To this end, a reliable framework must be created in which all stakeholders and affected parties can find their place. Last but not least, the financial participation of citizens in various forms also plays a central role. It can contribute to the acceptance of this project of the century.
In the Raiffeisen Year 2018 - the anniversary year of the cooperative idea - around 20 million people in Germany are members of a cooperative. In the field of citizen energy, too, more and more people are discovering this form of joint economic activity. "The global energy turnaround is only possible at all through local action. Here, citizens, organised in citizen energy societies, are both drivers and advocates. This is where co-determination and regional participation happen locally," explained Dr Frank-Michael Baumann, Managing Director of EnergyAgency.NRW.
Dominik Kitzinger, Division Manager at the Association of Cooperatives - Verband der Regionen e. V., emphasised: "In North Rhine-Westphalia, around 100 energy cooperatives are active as operators of generation capacities - from photovoltaic to wind energy plants - as well as around 150 citizen energy companies of other legal forms. Nationwide, more than 41 percent of investments in renewable energy come from civic engagement. If Germany wants to meet its climate targets, it can only do so with this local commitment."
In addition to projects from the areas of photovoltaics, local heating and wind, the focus was also on the mobility transition. Here, the participants agreed that e-mobility must go hand in hand with the energy transition. Citizen energy companies and cooperatives must therefore be strengthened through cooperation and transformation. Cooperatives that already market car sharing, the operation of charging infrastructures and jointly produced electricity were presented as best-practice examples. There are around 40 energy cooperatives active in these areas throughout NRW.
Despite the growing interest in cooperative management, the number of new energy cooperatives founded has declined in recent years. René Groß from the German Cooperative and Raiffeisen Association blames the changed legal framework conditions for this, but also the complex demands on the mostly voluntarily organised civil societies. In this context, the conference participants also debated the controversial effects of legislation at national and European level, such as through the Energy Collection Act and the new EU Directive as well as the Renewable Energies Directive.
The Wealth Redistribution Alliance is focussing on social justice in the 2017 election year and is launching the campaign "Redistribute wealth - a fair country for all!" just in time for the Bundestag election campaign. In total 30 organisations, from trade unions, welfare and youth associations to migrant and environmental organisationshave joined forces in the alliance, which made its first public appearance today at the Federal Press Conference in Berlin. The strategic aim is to place tax and redistribution policy at the centre of the election campaign alongside the issue of social justice. Among other things, they are calling for greater taxation of financially strong companies as well as large assets, incomes and inheritances.
"The social divide has reached an intolerable level," said Frank Bsirske, Chairman of the United Services Union (ver.di). Social inequality, insecurity and injustice have been increasing worldwide and in Germany for decades. The key to a fairer and better policy for all is a turnaround in tax policy. Millionaires and billionaires should therefore be asked to contribute more to the financing of public tasks, said Bsirske.
The enormous private wealth contrasts with massive public poverty, which is clearly visible in more and more municipalities. "Germany is running on empty. In many places, spending on culture, social affairs and education is being cut beyond the pain threshold due to financial hardship. A solidary tax and financial policy is ultimately the acid test and the test of credibility for anyone who runs on the promise of a good welfare state and more social justice," says Ulrich Schneider, Managing Director of the Paritätischer Gesamtverband.
"The increasing social divide in society is also evident on the housing markets. We need permanently priced social housing, at least an additional 80,000 a year, as well as a needs-based housing allowance and the assumption of actually appropriate housing costs in the standard rates of Hartz IV. This is another reason why financially strong corporations, large fortunes, billionaires and millionaires must contribute more than before to the costs of the common good. Redistributing wealth means creating tax justice, closing tax loopholes and drying up tax havens," says Ulrich Ropertz, Managing Director of the German Tenants' Association.
The unequal distribution of wealth goes hand in hand with unequal power relations worldwide and is therefore also a serious threat to social cohesion in Germany, warns the alliance. Barbara Eschen, spokesperson for the National Poverty Conference and Director of Diakonie Berlin-Brandenburg, emphasises: "Germany is a rich country. It is all the more scandalous that so many people in Germany are left behind because they are poor. The wealth in Germany must be redistributed. And there must finally be an end to playing different groups of people in need off against each other."
The action alliance also sees its demands strengthened by the current poverty and wealth report by the German government, in which the government itself warns of an excessive division in society and admits that employees often feel that their efforts are not sufficiently respected, that the long-term unemployed are not benefiting proportionately from the German job boom and that the service sector is lagging behind in terms of wage increases. "We share this diagnosis. Now we need to turn words into action. If we want to combat poverty, we must strengthen collective bargaining agreements and stabilise and gradually raise the statutory pension," said ver.di Chairman Frank Bsirske.
A film by French philosopher Philippe Simay on arte.tv In this episode, the philosopher visits the region of Vorarlberg in Austria, the international model for ecological and sustainable architecture.
Documentary Series - 27 min:
www.arte.tv/guide/de/057411-010-A/in-der-welt-zuhause
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