Survey on the wishes of Hamburg companies in regard to the new energy policy The Renewable Energy Hamburg network surveyed its more than 290 member organisations as part of the 2025 Bundestag and Hamburg City Parliament elections

Renewable Energy Hamburg (EEHH) took the occasion of the Bundestag and Hamburg City Parliament elections in April 2025 to survey the member companies of its parent association EEHH e. V. on their current assessments and wishes for future energy policies. The questionnaire enquired about specific wishes for amendments to regulations and market mechanisms as well as political objectives such as expansion plans for grids and renewable energies. In some cases, respondents were asked to state priorities or to select multiple answers. The following text provides a summarised overview of the findings. The first part refers to what respondents would want from the new federal government, the second to the wishes placed on the incoming Hamburg Senate.

Energy companies view system flexibility and clear framework conditions as particularly important

When asked about the most important issue that the new federal government should tackle in the area of energy policy after the 2025 federal elections, respondents most frequently mentioned the topics of the heating transition and hydrogen. Respondents were asked to consider six topic areas and prioritise the key requirements that the federal government should fulfil in its energy policy after the 2025 elections. This revealed a clear prioritisation (65 percent placed it in 1st or 2nd place) of binding expansion plans for business planning security followed by clear framework conditions for all flexible energy consumers (50 percent cited this aspect in 1st or 2nd place).

When asked what modifications would be needed to procedures so that renewable energy projects can be implemented more quickly, a clear majority (around 95 percent) responded that application and approval procedures must be simplified and rigorously digitalised.

Asked where they see the most urgent potential for improvement in the area of renewable energy regulation, just over half of respondents (58 percent) prioritised the acceleration of new regulations for processes, technologies and their use and legal certainty as well as relief from taxes and levies for renewable energy projects.

Two thirds of the survey participants (68 percent) call for relief from network access fees for grid-serving systems (e.g. electrolysers, battery storage systems). Over half (around 55 per cent) would also like to see the Renewable Energy Act (EEG) become superfluous in the medium term through more consistent carbon pricing and the reduction of other cost burdens on electricity.

48 percent of respondents agree that there should be a gradual and significant increase in the envisaged carbon price, but that this should be handled to enable long-term planning above all. To this end, the quantity of certificates must remain limited and also be rapidly reduced each year. Certificate trading for all price bands is therefore the preferred lever and not higher taxation.

Asked how the decentralised nature of the energy market could be taken into account to a greater extent, three quarters of survey participants (76 percent) believe that the solution lies in the wholesale and rapid introduction of smart meters to ensure the workability of dynamic electricity tariffs. More than two thirds (69 percent) believe that energy sharing in neighbourhoods or business parks should be significantly simplified and supported (as echoed in the coalition agreement of the new German government).

The findings are balanced in regard to the heating transition: half of those surveyed agree respectively with the need for greater promotion of technical innovations, more refurbishment incentives for property owners and the subsidisation of climate-friendly heating systems in neighbourhoods.

Responses to the Hamburg election

When asked which energy policy issues the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg should prioritise at national level, over 60 percent of EEHH members would like to see Hamburg commit to making the electricity market more flexible and reforming network access fees. Around one in two would also like to see the hydrogen market ramp-up (58 percent), the expansion of (onshore and offshore) wind energy (46 percent) and the use of climate-neutral heating systems in urban settings (48 percent) on Hamburg’s agenda with the federal government.

In each case, over half of respondents (56 percent) agree on which energy policy issues the new Senate should prioritise for Hamburg: establishing Hamburg as a North German hydrogen hub, expanding urban solar energy and decarbonising the heating sector are the top priorities.

Jan Rispens, CEO, Renewable Energy Hamburg “The members of our EEHH e.V. parent association are clearly in favour of significantly more market impact and flexibility in the energy system at federal level. For example, carbon trading should be systematically expanded instead of taxing the sector as we see today. Suitable market mechanisms need to be introduced to activate grid-serving energy consumers or storage systems. And with the hydrogen economy, solar energy and climate-friendly heat supply, the wishes for Hamburg as a city are clear as well. It is therefore fair to say that the wishes at federal and state level are unequivocal, and we are looking forward to the developments in the legislative periods that have just begun.”