Kraft-Wärme-Kopplung und Beihilfe

In its ruling of March 28, 2019 the European Court of Justice held that the German Renewable Energy Act of 2012 did not constitute state aid (Art. 107 TFEU). In a detailed comparative analysis the author concludes that this decision is applicable to the German Combined Heat and Power Act as well. This derives from he architecture of both laws utilizing financial means not stemming from the state but collected from private consumers and beeing transferred to private plant operators which hereby cover their costsurplus when generating power and heat in the interesset of climate protection. Without state authority to dispose of or control the financial resources there is no state aid. In consequence, there will be no prenotification as well as no restriction on future changes oft he Act.