Energy Security
Legislation is the cornerstone of promoting renewable energy while ensuring energy security. Laws and regulations in the energy sector set targets and create incentives for renewable energy expansion, while they also establish supporting policies to ensure energy security.
Germany already has a comprehensive set of energy legislation framework which closely follows the requirement of EU strategies and regulation. Based on the social economy and energy development, German laws regarding energy keep evolving to accommodate new situations, and therefore better serve the German energy transition. Click here to read more on Germany's System Stability Roadmap to achieve secure and robust operation of the future energy supply system with 100% renewable energy.
China is in the process of developing its overarching Energy Law, while Renewable Energy Law and Energy Conservation Law are being amended to catch up the rapidly evolving energy development situation. The Sino-German Energy Partnership facilitated in-depth exchange regarding the energy law and energy security topics between Chinese and German experts.
Our Activities
The effective legal framework for the energy sector in Germany stands as a foundational pillar that strongly supports and successfully drives the German energy transition. In collaboration with the China Electricity Counsil (CEC), the Energy Partnership fosters exchange among China’s National Energy Administration, the Ministry of Justice, the National People’s Congress and further German and Chinese energy and legislative authorities. The goal is to jointly explore how energy and energy efficiency laws and regulations can better incentivise renewable energy development, promote sustainable economic and social development, and ensure energy security. In Augst 2022 and October 2023, two workshops took place in Beijing enabling key stakeholder to delve deeper into the topic. In collaboration with the German think tank IKEM, the Energy Partnership published the report “The Role of Energy Law in the German Energy Transition”, providing a comprehensive overview on how the legislative framework supports Germany’s energy transition as a valuable reference to the Chinese context.
Security of Supply in the German Electricity Sector
In 2022, the Sino-German Energy Partnership published the report Security of Supply in the German Electricity Sector to share German experiences on effective policy making, strategies and measures taken to ensure energy security during energy transition. The German energy transition has preserved the country's electricity supply security without adverse effects, thanks to policy adjustments and market rule adaptations. The German power system has few outages compared to other advanced economies. Key measures to ensure the supply security include sound electricity market performance, flexible operation of conventional thermal plants without subsidies, and cross-border electricity trade within the EU's internal market. Furthermore, recent reforms promoting new asset categories like storage, demand-side management (DSM), and the expansion of transmission and distribution grids contribute to integrating renewable energy. The use of redispatch measures and a government-established reserve system, including decommissioned coal and oil-fired power plants, further enhance generation adequacy.
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October 2023 - Workshop on Energy Laws Supporting Energy Transition in China and Germany
China and Germany need to deepen mutual understanding and learn from each other in the field of energy legislation and energy governance system and work together to improve the energy-related legal systems of both sides.