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Glossary · Energy industry & energy transition

Direct marketing (Direktvermarktung)

Direct Marketing Direct Marketer renewable energies electricity market market premium Balancing group power exchange

Direct marketing means that electricity from a generation installation is sold on the electricity market. It is therefore not handed over to the grid operator in return for a fixed feed-in tariff. The term is used mainly for renewable energies, such as wind, photovoltaic, biomass and hydropower installations. Usually a specialised direct marketer handles the sale. It sells the volumes on the power exchange, over the counter or through long-term supply contracts.

In German law the term is precisely defined. Under Section 3 No. 16 EEG 2023, direct marketing is the sale of electricity from renewable energies or mine gas to third parties. Excluded is electricity that is consumed in the immediate spatial vicinity of the installation and not transmitted through a grid. This results in an important distinction: self-consumption and supply via a direct on-site line without a grid do not constitute direct marketing within the meaning of the EEG.

A commercial transaction, not a physical path

Physically, the electricity from a wind farm does not flow traceably to a specific buyer. Direct marketing therefore mainly governs the economic and balancing allocation of the feed-in. For each quarter-hour it is determined which volume is expected and to which balancing group it is allocated. It must also be clarified how deviations between forecast and actual feed-in are settled. For the entitlement to the market premium, Section 20 EEG 2023 expressly requires that the electricity be accounted for in a balancing group or sub-balancing group which, in principle, contains only electricity directly marketed in this way. Under Section 21b EEG 2023, direct marketing also requires that the entire actual feed-in be measured and accounted for on a quarter-hourly basis.

Volumes are measured in kilowatt-hours or megawatt-hours. For revenue, however, not only the annual volume counts but also the time of feed-in. A megawatt-hour of solar power on a sunny spring midday is usually worth less on the market than a megawatt-hour of wind power on a tight winter evening. When many installations feed in at the same time, the price falls. The average revenue of a technology is therefore often below the general exchange average. This difference is made visible by the energy-source-specific market value. It explains why identical annual volumes can yield different revenues.

Forms of sale under the EEG

The EEG 2023 recognises several forms of sale. Operators must assign each installation to one of them and, in principle, may only switch on the first day of a month. Direct marketing comprises two forms:

  • Supported direct marketing (market premium model, Section 20 EEG 2023): The operator or its marketer sells the electricity on the market. In addition, the grid operator pays a market premium. In essence, it corresponds to the difference between the applicable value (anzulegender Wert) and the market value of the respective energy source, and it can fall to zero if the market value is high enough. The applicable value is set by law or determined in a tender. Depending on the energy source, a monthly or annual market value serves as the benchmark. For hydropower, biomass and geothermal energy, for example, it is the annual average of the spot market price.

  • Other direct marketing (Section 21a EEG 2023): The electricity is sold without any EEG payment, for example through a power purchase agreement (PPA) with a company. A PPA is thus one possible form of marketing, but not another word for direct marketing.

To be distinguished from this is the fixed feed-in tariff under Section 21 EEG 2023. Here the operator makes the fed-in electricity available to the grid operator and receives a fixed amount per kilowatt-hour. The operator does not do the marketing itself. Anyone who uses this tariff may not take part with the installation in the market for balancing energy. Additional revenues from balancing energy are therefore open only to installations in direct marketing.

When direct marketing is mandatory in Germany

A general obligation to use direct marketing is not expressly stated in the law. It results from the limitation of the feed-in tariff (status: EEG 2023 as currently in force, November 2026). The regular fixed feed-in tariff is available under Section 21(1) sentence 1 No. 1 only for installations with up to 100 kilowatts of installed capacity whose applicable value is determined by law. Larger installations in practice receive support only in direct marketing with the market premium. Two exceptions exist for them:

  • Fallback tariff (Ausfallvergütung): Installations above 100 kW can temporarily switch to the feed-in tariff, for at most three consecutive calendar months and six months per year. The tariff is then reduced. This rule serves, for example, as a safeguard if a direct marketer fails.

  • Unpaid take-over: Installations below 200 kW can transfer their electricity to the grid operator without payment. The payment entitlement is then zero.

Installations up to 100 kW may switch to direct marketing voluntarily. Anyone who wants to receive the market premium must also meet the remote controllability requirements under Section 10b EEG 2023. The direct marketer must be able to retrieve the actual feed-in and to reduce the feed-in capacity by remote control. For installations above 100 kW, contracts with the direct marketer and technical control are therefore part of the conditions for support.

The law is currently changing. On 29 July 2026, the Federal Cabinet adopted a government draft for an EEG 2027. Under it, the fixed feed-in tariff for new installations is to be phased out gradually from 2027. Small installations are to receive only a time-limited transitional payment, after which direct marketing would be the standard case. According to media reports, the Bundesrat called for amendments in early November 2026, and the vote in the Bundestag was planned for November. Until a new version is promulgated and in force, the rules of the EEG 2023 described above apply.

Tasks of the direct marketer

Direct marketer is a market role and not a particular type of company. Electricity traders, energy suppliers, specialised marketers or aggregators can take it on. They prepare feed-in forecasts, manage balancing groups and trade on the day-ahead and intraday markets. They also bear the risk of forecast errors and settle market revenues. If actual feed-in deviates from the forecast, balancing energy costs arise. A large portfolio helps because the errors of individual installations partly offset each other. Small installations alone could hardly trade economically on short-term markets. Direct marketers earn from marketing fees, from trading optimisation and in part from additional revenues, for example from balancing energy or flexibility marketing.

Common misunderstandings

Supported direct marketing does not mean that an installation is economically viable without support. Part of the revenue comes from the market, but the support remains and is simply organised differently through the market premium. The installation receives price signals and at the same time stays within a framework intended to secure investments. Only other direct marketing manages entirely without EEG payments.

Even at negative prices, not every installation is switched off automatically. Whether it responds depends on several factors: support rules, commissioning date, remote controllability, contract with the marketer, grid situation and foregone revenues. For installations that went into operation on or after 25 February 2025, the payment under Section 51 EEG 2023 is in principle suspended during periods of negative prices. This creates an incentive for curtailment. Other thresholds apply to older installations. Price, support, balancing group responsibility and grid operation therefore do not always act in the same direction.

Significance for the electricity system and limits

Through direct marketing, renewable generation becomes a market position with a time reference and clear responsibility. Wind and solar power cannot be dispatched freely like a conventional power plant. But they can be forecast, pooled, curtailed and combined with other installations. With high shares of renewable energies, marketing turns from pure settlement into a coordination task. A direct marketer can, for example, jointly optimise battery storage, biogas plants, wind and photovoltaic installations, if contracts, metering and market rules allow it. Direct marketing is thus closely linked to flexibility, but not the same thing.

For financing, what matters is which revenues remain after support, marketing fees and balancing energy risks. Direct marketing alone, however, does not secure security of supply. It organises the sale of, and balancing responsibility for, the volumes generated. It does not replace dispatchable capacity, grids, storage, reserves and rules for congestion management and redispatch. Direct marketing combines forecasting, balancing, trading, settlement, remote control and regulation in a market that must be balanced in every quarter-hour.

Sources

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Edited by eCMS on 11.11.2026 19:20

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