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Low-carbon energy requires more land than the non-renewable resources. This paper balances holistic assessments of the land demands for biomass heating and their ecosystem services. It is predicted that biomass will continue to play an important role in the heating sector in Germany by 2050, as it is one way to increase the use of renewable energy and reduce CO2 emissions. To balance this out, it is important to ensure that the substitution of fossil fuels with fuelwood does not result in losses in biodiversity, natural forest, and agricultural land. Based on the observed types of fuel demand, the need for space in terms of the growing area is characterized as the corresponding land under the consideration of a given land-use type. Formulas have been applied at the federal level in Germany. The area required to supply an average German household is 0.64 ha if all the wood harvested is used for energy purposes, but this is in competition with all other types of timber use. Fuelwood from thinning alone cannot meet the domestic demand. However, a sustainable supply of woody biomass is possible if residues mainly from forestry and the wood processing industry are used, causing a land demand of 2.69 ha per house, possibly in combination with smaller shares of the above-mentioned types of use. Thus, the shares of pellets and wood chips for heating purposes should be expanded, which would also bring ecological advantages. The qualitative consideration of forest ecosystem services shows that changing the forest composition or management may increase the fuelwood supply but does not necessarily decrease forest ecological services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Legislative efforts for renewables-based energy decarbonisation hinge upon the support and commitment from different stakeholders holding often conflicting positions regarding disruptive processes of socio-technical transformation. However, the evolving acceptance of market actors on the policy-driven promotion of renewables over time remains under-scrutinised. Simultaneously, despite growing attention to power and politics in sustainability transitions, limited efforts remain invested for elucidating the political-economic nature of the market-based selection environments they are operationalised through, highlighting the need for a more systematic comprehension of the "politics of selection". To address these shortcomings, this paper provides a more refined understanding of the role of policy-driven markets and its participating agents in facilitating/hindering innovation diffusion and broader (system-wide) sustainability transitions. To do so, it showcases a longitudinal case study of the politics underlying Germany's evolving feed-in policy support framework for orchestrating a market-mediated diffusion of renewables (1980s–2020). Based on policy analysis and semi-structured interviews, the study traces the changing acceptance and ensuing strategic (re)actions of market actors to the emergence and evolution of Germany's market for electricity from renewable energy sources. Results show how different market participants effectively shape the selection environments they operate in by proactively contesting/deluding the design features of the support policies organising their economised relations (e.g., market entry conditions, exchange rules, remuneration levels, pricing schemes, etc.). Such efforts are undertaken through legal means and market framing strategies targeting the affordability of policy support costs, coupled with the strategic use of policy instrumentation as a vehicle to further expand/retain their market shares to the detriment of competing actors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper identifies socioeconomic factors that are supposed to impact the investment decision of private households in Germany regarding small-scale solar PV (photovoltaic) systems. In 2022, the last nuclear power plant will phase out and the end of coal-fired power plants is fixed for 2038. Thus, the legislator is mandated to foster the addition of renewable energy capacities to close the gap fossil fuels and nuclear power leaves. Some share of the renewable energies could be from private households that mainly invest in small-scale solar PV systems. To stimulate investments, it is necessary to identify factors that are important for the investment decisions of private households. Within this paper, secondary socioeconomic data for the period from 2009–2018 was compiled. In order to identify the latent variables, a factor analysis was conducted. The results state five factors that are supposed to impact the investment decisions of the prosumer in Germany. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In August 2020, Germany and Ukraine launched an energy partnership that includes the development of a hydrogen economy. Ukraine has vast renewable energy resources for "green" hydrogen production and a gas transmission system for transportation instead of Russian natural gas. Based on estimates by Hydrogen Europe, Ukraine can install 8000 MW of total electrolyser capacity by 2030. For these reasons, Ukraine is among the EU's priority partners concerning clean hydrogen, according to the EU Hydrogen strategy. Germany plans to reach climate neutrality by 2045, and "green" hydrogen plays an important role in achieving this target. However, according to the National Hydrogen Strategy of Germany, local production of "green" hydrogen will not cover all internal demand in Germany. For this reason, Germany considers importing hydrogen from Ukraine. To govern the production and import of "green" hydrogen, Germany and Ukraine shall introduce legal regulations, the initial analysis of which is covered in this study. Based on observation and comparison, this paper presents and compares approaches while exploring the current stage and further perspectives for legal regulation of hydrogen in Germany and Ukraine. This research identifies opportunities in hydrogen production to improve the flexibility of the Ukrainian power system. This is an important issue for Ukrainian energy security. In the meantime, hydrogen can be a driver for decarbonisation according to the initial plans of Germany, and it may also have positive impact on the operation of Germany's energy system with a high share of renewables. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Citizen energy in general and renewable energy communities (RECs) in particular are becoming key vehicles for decentralisation, but also for the democratisation of the energy system. These initiatives are now more diverse than ever and are likely to continue to act as incubators for significant projects in the transition to a renewable energy system. Beside the legal, regulatory, and financial challenges, there are several socio-economic and regulatory barriers that hinder the implementation of community energy projects. For this reason, policy learning and the dissemination of good/best practices that are transferable also to other contexts are important. This is an aspect that has not yet attracted much investigation, and only a few studies have explored the importance of transfer activities for the implementation of REC initiatives and their motives. This article aimed to address this knowledge gap by focussing on the transfer processes of best practices initiated in a particular region and discusses how these can be adapted and transferred to other contexts. We analysed the transfer case of a community renewable energy initiative, the multifunctional energy gardens, from the Netherlands to the German federal State of Thuringia, and extracted lessons with an overall validity for the transferability of drivers and success factors. We show how examples from other contexts with similar enabling conditions can represent significant foundations on which to build an effective strategy and what framework conditions are necessary to enhance the uptake of pervasive community energy initiatives in regions with low community energy development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

(1) The German energy system transformation towards an entirely renewable supply is expected to incorporate the extensive use of green hydrogen. This carbon-free fuel allows the decarbonization of end-use sectors such as industrial high-temperature processes or heavy-duty transport that remain challenging to be covered by green electricity only. However, it remains unclear whether the current legislative framework supports green hydrogen production or is an obstacle to its rollout. (2) This work analyzes the relevant laws and ordinances regarding their implications on potential hydrogen production plant operators. (3) Due to unbundling-related constraints, potential operators from the group of electricity transport system and distribution system operators face lacking permission to operate production plants. Moreover, ownership remains forbidden for them. The same applies to natural gas transport system operators. The case is less clear for natural gas distribution system operators, where explicit regulation is missing. (4) It is finally analyzed if the production of green hydrogen is currently supported in competition with fossil hydrogen production, not only by the legal framework but also by the National Hydrogen Strategy and the Amendment of the Renewable Energies Act. It can be concluded that in recent amendments of German energy legislation, regulatory support for green hydrogen in Germany was found. The latest legislation has clarified crucial points concerning the ownership and operation of electrolyzers and the treatment of green hydrogen as a renewable energy carrier. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]