That answers Habeck to the FDP questions

Habeck and experts from the Ministry of Construction of Klara Geywitz (SPD), with whom the Ministry of Economic Affairs had worked out the law, have now written down their answers. The Handelsblatt has the 77 questions and answers from the conversation. This could now bring movement to the controversial legislative process that the Greens want to bring through the Bundestag before the summer break.

The Building Energy Act (GEG) has been controversial among the three coalition partners for weeks. The draft law already passed by the cabinet stipulates that from 2024 new heating systems must be operated with at least 65 percent renewable energy. In fact, this is accompanied by a ban on new oil and gas heating systems.

The 77 questions of the FDP are a colorful mix of general explanations about energy supply, but also specifics about heating and heat transition. Some of the answers from the Ministry of Economic Affairs and the Ministry of Construction should therefore be important for the further legislative process. Here is a selection:

Question 1: Would a higher carbon price be better than bans?

As the first question, the FDP goes to the core of the discussion: In a party congress resolution, the Liberals recently called for regulatory bans on new oil and gas heating systems to be dispensed with. Instead, the conversion of the heat supply should be promoted by a faster rising CO2 price.

Habeck and Geywitz reject this. In their answer, they justify this by saying that the CO2 price would then have to rise enormously. They refer to an analysis by the Mercator Institute. Accordingly, the CO2 price would have to rise to 200 to 300 euros per ton by 2030 in order to achieve the climate targets in the heating sector. Currently the price is 30 euros per ton.

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But such price jumps must be avoided. “As the last year has shown, skyrocketing energy prices can lead to severe social and economic upheavals,” says Habeck and Geywitz’ answer. In addition, the CO2 price development is difficult to forecast for homeowners who have no experience in the energy markets and therefore has far too little influence on the decision as to whether to do without fossil heating.

The possibility of returning the income from CO2 pricing to consumers in the form of climate money for social balance is not mentioned. There are still administrative hurdles in the way of such a climate money.

Question 8: Do the many heat pumps overload the power grids?

Habeck and Geywitz emphasize that the heating law is open to technology. What is clear, however, is that a large part of the fossil heating systems should be replaced by electric heat pumps. That’s why the concern had recently arisen that this could overload the power grids. Especially on very cold days, the devices are “a double whammy for the power grid,” said Florian Bieberbach, head of Stadtwerke München.

From the point of view of the Ministry of Economics and Building, such warnings are unfounded. One of the answers to the FDP catalog of questions states: “The additional power consumption of heat pumps is low due to the high efficiency of heat pumps, which use ambient heat from the air, the ground or water in particular.”

The ministers are calculating: an estimated five million new heat pumps would have to be installed in Germany by 2030 in order to achieve the climate targets. These required less than 30 terawatt hours of electricity. That does not even correspond to five percent of electricity consumption in 2030.

Question 12: How many electrical connections in buildings are suitable for the operation of a heat pump?

The two ministries have no final answer to this. It is said that whether the grid connection of a building is sufficient must be checked for each individual case as part of a grid compatibility test by the responsible electricity grid operator. However, it can be assumed that, especially when connecting large heat pumps for apartment buildings, “an increase in the power grid connection may be necessary more often”.

Question 15: Who pays for the necessary electrical connections, especially in apartment buildings?

Here the two ministries give the all-clear. The necessary costs incurred for the grid connection when installing a heating system that is eligible for federal funding for efficient buildings (BEG), in particular a heat pump, are also eligible, it is said.

Question 51: What funds should be used for state support?

The economics and construction ministries had repeatedly said that they wanted to finance the planned funding from the federal government’s climate and transformation fund (KTF). The FDP has now again pointed out that the KTF funds are “already exhausted or oversubscribed”. Habeck and Geywitz stick with it: The KTF “is sufficient to provide the necessary financial resources”.

Question 58: How do you see the boiler ban planned by the EU Commission?

A new EU regulation currently being discussed in Brussels stipulates that from September 2029 manufacturers will only be able to bring significantly more efficient boilers onto the market than has been the case up to now. Pure oil and gas heating systems should then no longer be offered.

In their answers to the FDP catalog of questions, Habeck and Geywitz do not make it clear exactly how they feel about the proposal. However, they point out that a timely resolution of the national heating law is all the more important in view of the developments in Brussels: “We should by no means wait for what is decided in Brussels, but actively shape it in Germany and conduct the council negotiations accordingly.”

This is the only way to succeed in working towards “that the legal framework of the Union will be compatible with it and in particular that our regulations on transitional periods, exceptions and cases of hardship will not be thwarted”.

More: Chances for an agreement on the heating law are increasing

First publication: 06/02/2023, 7:41 p.m.