Compliance with technical codes turns into precondition for support and system services bonus for wind power plants in Germany

When amending the Renewable Energy Sources Act (EEG) in June 2008 the German government acknowledged the importance of enhanced technical requirements. From now on, for wind power plants, full grid code-compliance will become a necessary precondition for privileged network access, receipt of feed-in tariff, and extra payments (system services bonus). Thus, the amended EEG ensures further development of renewable energy sources in line with targets without compromising security of supply. The technical basis for the technical requirements in the EEG has been determined by the recently revised technical code for dispersed generators in German distribution networks (Medium Voltage Directive 2008) and the Transmission Code 2007 respectively. However, the latter needed careful review and some clarifying specifications were proposed. The new technical requirements and their implications for renewable energy sources generators, with special regard to wind power plants, are presented in this paper.