ACM: upon introduction, feed-in tariff to have a 20-year transitional period, similar to the situation in Germany
Summary
- ACM will use a 20-year transitional period when introducing a feed-in tariff for large producers of electricity.
- With a feed-in tariff, large producers of electricity pay towards the costs of the grid. At the moment, the costs of the grid are borne by grid users only.
- With this decision, ACM fits in with the situation in Germany where the energy regulator also announced that a transitional period for existing situations would be introduced.
In April, the Netherlands Authority for Consumers & Markets (ACM) indicated that it wished to tie the design of the feed-in tariff to that of the German tariff as much as possible. In late May, the German energy regulator Bundesnetzagentur (BNetzA) announced it would apply transitional law to existing situations. ACM deems it desirable to apply transitional law in the Netherlands too, which is why it announces to use, when the feed-in tariff is introduced, a transitional period of 20 years for existing market participants that feed in electricity.
The 20-year period will commence as soon as the investment is or has been put into operation. Projects for which a final investment decision has been taken before the introduction of the feed-in tariff (which is currently projected to be January 1, 2032) will be eligible for transitional law. A project for which the final investment decision is taken in 2026 and that is put into operation in 2031 will thus not have to pay a feed-in tariff until 2051.
ACM will work out the details in a draft code decision. Since Germany is the most important trading partner for the Dutch electricity market, ACM wishes to ensure the playing field with Germany is as level as possible, when a feed-in tariff is introduced.