Special provisions applied to onshore wind turbines that were no longer subsidized at the end of 2020 in 2021: They were entitled to a levy on the feed-in tariff (amendment to Section 23b EEG 2021 of 27.07.2021).
This levy amounted to 0.25 to 1.00 ct/kWh on the monthly market value of onshore wind energy. It was available to system operators who meet the relevant statutory conditions (Section 23b (2) to (5) EEG 2021):
1.) This is an onshore wind turbine that was commissioned before 01.01.2001 and therefore fell out of the EEG subsidy on 31.12.2020.
2.) The levy is only granted for the quantities of electricity fed into the grid in the sales form of the feed-in tariff for no longer subsidized installations, but not for directly marketed or self-consumed (not fed into the grid) quantities of electricity. The installation must therefore have been allocated to the sale form of the feed-in tariff for no longer subsidized installations for at least one calendar month in 2021.
3.) The levy is considered aid within the meaning of the "Federal Regulation on Small Subsidies 2020" and can only be granted subject to compliance with these regulations. If the system operator belongs to an affiliated company, the regulations for this affiliated company apply. The sum of all aid received by the plant operator or its affiliated company may not exceed the limit of EUR 1,800,000.00.
4.) The system operator or the company affiliated with the system operator must submit a joint declaration to the connection grid operator(s) by 31.12.2021 (material cut-off deadline) that meets the requirements of Section 23b (3) EEG 2021.
5.) Pursuant to Section 23b (3) sentence 4 EEG 2021, the electronic form template of the transmission system operators must be used for this declaration. This template must be submitted in full and without amendments - including all confirmations contained in the template - in electronic form (email).
6.) In this declaration, all wind turbines of the system operator or its affiliated company for which the levy is to be claimed must be listed with the EEG "Marktstammdatenregister" number (begins with EEG, followed by 12 digits)*, the connection grid operator or the various connection grid operators in which such turbines are operated and the maximum amount of the levy. Installations for which the levy cannot or should not be claimed should not be listed. If several connection network operators are specified, the identical declaration must be submitted to all connection network operators by the deadline.
7.) The maximum amount shall be determined by the system operator or the company affiliated with the system operator on its own responsibility and in a binding manner. The actual levy resulting from the quantity of electricity is limited to this maximum amount. A transfer of unused maximum amounts to other installations or a subsequent adjustment of the maximum amounts after submission of the declaration is not permitted. The sum of all maximum amounts plus the sum of the subsidies granted at the time the declaration is submitted may not exceed the maximum amount of EUR 1,800,000.00.
8.) After submitting the declaration, no further aid may be claimed by the system operator or the affiliated company under the "Federal Small Grants Regulation 2020" (Section 23b para. 3 no. 4 letter b EEG 2021).
9.) The levy will be paid directly by the connection grid operator to the recipient of the feed-in tariff, usually the system operator, as part of the 2021 annual settlement. The declarations as well as the amount of the levies actually paid are forwarded by the connection grid operator to the transmission grid operators and the Federal Network Agency and the amount of the levy is published on the Internet. As this is done on a statutory basis (Section 72 (1) and (4), Section 73 (7) and (8) EEG 2021, Section 76 (1) and Section 77 (1) EEG 2021), the system operator or the company affiliated with the system operator cannot object to the forwarding and publication.