Overview
- Armin Willingmann publicly acknowledged the implementation errors on Thursday and said shifting grid expansion costs onto regional electricity bills damaged local support for the Energiewende.
- Willingmann said the core mistake was using regional net charges to pay for network upgrades and argued that the grid should have been financed from the start as state infrastructure.
- Since early 2025, a nationwide equalization mechanism has partly eased the burden on regions with heavy renewable build-out by spreading some net costs across all consumers.
- Saxony-Anhalt has passed an acceptance and participation law that pays municipalities for wind power, with Willingmann saying a single turbine brings a community about €27,000 a year and noting photovoltaic capacity now exceeds wind in the state.
- The admission raises political stakes before the state election as Willingmann defends further renewables and faster hydrogen development while accusing the AfD of opposing reliable local revenues from wind projects.