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Renewable energy making good business sense for Germany

Merkel’s big bet is that environmental technology will be one of Germany’s most important sources of income. Already, the country’s share in the green-tech world market is 16 percent, which means billions of Euros in business. Renewable energy has generated 300,000 ‘green collar’ new jobs in the past decade, Röttgen says. Big companies like Siemens and Bosch are determined to become “green multinationals.” Thousands of small- and medium-sized technology companies see green technology as an important part of their business and investment strategy.

How Angela Merkel became Germany’s unlikely green energy champion  Christian Schwägerl for Yale Environment 360, guardian uk   9 May 2011  Germany is in a good starting position,…. Since the 1990s, the Renewable Energy Sources Act has paved the way for billions of Euros flowing to consumers and investors for green power projects. The law guarantees that each kilowatt hour of green electricity is fed into the grid and bought at a favorable statutory rate by operators. The rate varies between green energy sources, but is considerably higher than normal electricity prices. It is guaranteed for a 20-year period. This makes investment in renewable energy projects very attractive; witness Google recently pumping money into a German solar park.

As a result, the share of renewable electricity in Germany has jumped from 5 percent in the 1990s to 17 percent today. Traveling through the country, it is easy to see signs of this change. In the north, wind farms are now characteristic of many regions, particularly along the coastlines of the North and Baltic seas. In the south, which is richer in sunlight, photovoltaic cells cover the roofs of whole villages. The bright yellow of rapeseed is prevalent in many regions, as the plant is widely used for producing biodiesel. More and more farms are equipped with big tanks holding “biomethane” derived from maize or agricultural residues.

Merkel’s big hope for her “energy turn” is offshore wind energy. After a sluggish start, several new commercial projects are under construction. On May 2, Merkel proudly pressed a button at a ceremony on the Baltic Sea coast, setting in motion 21 huge offshore wind turbines 16 kilometers away at sea. Taken together, they can provide 50,000 households with renewable energy.

“Baltic 1” is Germany’s first commercial offshore windpark. The turbines have been constructed by Siemens, a company that until recently earned most of its money in the energy sector by building nuclear and fossil-fuel power plants. The wind farm is run by EnBW, a German utility that has so far produced most of its electricity with nuclear power plants. Nothing could symbolize the new policy better than this offshore wind farm.

Merkel’s big bet is that environmental technology will be one of Germany’s most important sources of income. Already, the country’s share in the green-tech world market is 16 percent, which means billions of Euros in business. Renewable energy has generated 300,000 ‘green collar’ new jobs in the past decade, Röttgen says. Big companies like Siemens and Bosch are determined to become “green multinationals.” Thousands of small- and medium-sized technology companies see green technology as an important part of their business and investment strategy.

…… Röttgen, the environmental minister, points out that mass deployment of renewable energy technology will drive down costs. “When more people consume oil and coal, the price will go up, but when more people consume renewable energy, the price of it will go down”, he says. Röttgen argues that instead of sending billions of Euros to Russia and other sources of imported energy, Germany will now be able “to give that money to our green-tech engineers and local craftsmen.” Still, keeping the cost of the transition low and stopping energy-intensive companies from relocating to Romania or China will be very difficult…….. Despite the many problems and pitfalls, the chancellor’s new course is already attracting admiration from abroad. William Reilly, the former administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, said on a recent visit to Germany that he was impressed by Merkel’s energy turn and the example it sets for the rest of the industrialized world. “It was breathtaking to see this huge change by a conservative government,” he told me for a report in Der Spiegel magazine after meeting German politicians, NGOs, and business representatives. http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/may/09/angela-merkel-green-energy
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May 10, 2011 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | Germany, renewable