If Germany can do it without nuclear power, then surely Britain can
Chris
>
>
>Hydrogen Energy <[log in to unmask]> -- posted by [log in to unmask]
>============================================================
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>Published on 31 Mar 2005 by Solar Today Magazine
><http://www.sustainablebusiness.com/features/feature_printable.cfm?ID=12
>08> . Archived on 31 Mar 2005.
>
>Germany Launches Its Transition To All Renewables
>
>by Donald Aitken
>
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>Can renewable energy development keep pace with rising global energy
>demand? As world governments struggle with this question, Germany is
>advancing with resolve in a transition to 100% renewable energy. The
>German government accepts the goal is technically and economically
>feasible, and has adopted a long-term national policy for the
>transition. After years of reliance on nuclear energy - which supplies
>30% of the nation's electricity - Germany has concluded that nuclear is
>a dead-end and has established long term plans to phase it out.
>
>Germany's most urgent conclusion is that the period lasting until about
>2020 comprises "make-or-break" years for the renewable energy
>transition. It is this conviction that has driven German policy makers
>to introduce the world's most aggressive support for renewables, to
>stick with it during the past decade and to guarantee that support for
>the next 20-30 years.
>
>Wind Power
>
>The first renewable energy source to rec! eive serious government
>attention in Germany was wind. In the late 1980s, the government started
>the "100 megawatts of wind" program, jump-starting the German wind
>industry. A serious national effort began with the first "feed-in law,"
>which went into effect in 1991, requiring utilities to hook up to and
>purchase energy from all renewable energy providers in their areas, and
>to pay at least 90% of the retail price for the electricity purchased
>from them.
>
>In 1996, the government amended the Federal Building Construction Law to
>permit wind generators to be built in natural areas. By 1997, 2100
>megawatts (MW) of wind had been installed in Germany.
>
>The country made an important policy advance with the April 2000
>introduction of the Renewable Energy Sources Act ("Act on Granting
>Priority to Renewable Energy Sources," or EEG). The EEG was most
>recently amended last July and extended for several more years. Under
>the new law, onshore wind turbines coming online in 2005 wil! l receive
>not less than 8.53 euro cents (about $US 11 cents) per kilowatt-hour for
>the first five years (12 years for offshore development), and 5.39 euro
>cents (US 7 cents) after that, for 20 years of commissioning. Special
>incentives are intended to redress reduced power production (hence,
>revenue) in the lower wind regimes.
>
>Germany's accomplishments since 1990 have been astonishing. By the end
>of September, Germany had 15,688 MW of wind installations, delivering
>6.2% of the country's electrical energy. It was the world leader in
>total installations, as well as in the annual rate of installations.
>Germany has about 125% more installed wind energy capacity than either
>the U.S. or Spain, which are virtually tied for second.
>
>Solar Power
>
>Photovoltaics (PV): Germany's accomplishments in the development of
>solar energy for both electricity and water heating are as dramatic as
>those for wind, despite starting somewhat later. This achievement is
>especially remarkable considering that Germany's average solar potential
>is about 1000 kilowatt-hours per square meter per year - about half that
>of the U.S. Nevertheless, Germany was the fastest growing PV market in
>the world in 2003, when over 20,000 new PV systems were installed,
>representing a capacity of 145 MW peak (MWp) and bringing the
>end-of-year total to over 400 MWp of PV installed.
>
>In 2004, Germany installed another 25,000 PV systems, totaling 300 MWp,
>double the 2003 installation pace and exceeding an annual investment of
>1 billion euros (US$1.3 billion) for PV for the first time.
>
>The PV industry was effectively spurred by the "100,000 roofs program,"
>which from 1999 to 2003 produced 65,324 PV systems totaling 342 MW of
>capacity. The aim was to stimulate a new building-integrated PV (BIPV)
>market. The government initially stimulated this program by offering
>interest-free 10-year loans, waiving the last installment payment and
>guaranteeing a "feed-in" incentive! of 8.5 euro cents per kilowatt-hour.
>With the beginning of the EEG on April 1, 2000, the PV incentive price
>jumped to 50.62 euro cents (US 66 cents). By the end of 2004, Germany
>had become the world's No. 2 PV producer and the world's No. 1 PV
>installer.
>
>The amended Renewable Energy Act of 2004 assures continued activity in
>the German PV market. The base incentive remains 45.7 euro cents. This
>incentive is increased to 54-57 euro cents (US 70-75 cents), depending
>on the size for PV systems mounted on building roofs (the upper size
>limit has been eliminated). The incentive is further increased to
>59-62.4 euro cents (US 77-81 cents) for PV systems integrated into
>building surfaces other than roofs (eg., walls).
>
>Because the upper size limit for PV systems has been eliminated, even
>large ground-mounted systems are assured a revenue stream of 45.7 euro
>cents (US 59 cents) for 20 years plus the year of commissioning. The law
>also requires grid operators to give preference to renewable energy
>generators, and to guarantee connection to the grid even if that means
>upgrading their transmission facilities. They can recover their costs in
>the fees they charge for use of their facilities.
>Solar Thermal Water Heating: Germany also leads Europe in total and
>annual installations of solar thermal collectors for water heating.
>Interest in solar water heating was boosted by the increase of the
>subsidy, effective February 1, 2003. 2003 sales totaled about 600
>million euros. In 2004, 740,000 more square meters were added, about 80%
>of them for domestic water heating and 20% for space heating.
>
>To keep this sector expanding and encourage applications on apartment
>buildings, the government is developing a Renewable Heating Act. Whereas
>the EEG raised money for PV by spreading the costs proportionately over
>all utility districts, the Renewable Heating Act would raise money with
>a country-wide tax on oil and gas used in the heating sector, using this
>reve! nue to provide an incentive payment per kilowatt-hour of heat
>generated by solar thermal systems.
>
>Long-Term Commitment Drives Results
>
>At least seven factors were vital to the rapid rise of Germany's
>renewable energy industries:
>
>Enlightened politicians, in particular the alliance of the Social
>Democrat Party and the Green Party, and the leadership of
>Parliamentarian Hermann Scheer. Federal government leadership, through
>the adoption, in 2002, of a national strategy for sustainable
>development, and through the government's consistent, long-range support
>for energy-efficiency and renewables. Involved citizens who, mostly
>working through cooperatives, own 90% of the wind turbines, as well as
>most PV systems.
>
>Scientific analysis used as the basis for developing government policy.
>The German parliament formed the Enquete Commission in February 2000 "to
>furnish scientific evidence to be used as a basis for the German
>Bundestag's future decision-making in ! the field of energy policy." In
>its 2002 report to the parliament, the commission concluded, "It is
>possible to cover the total energy demand [for Germany] by means of
>solar/ renewable sources." Subsequent German policy is governed by this
>premise.
>
>The government's energy-efficiency policies: On April 1, 1999, the
>federal government implemented the first step in "environmental tax
>reform," by which it increased the taxes on oil, gas and electricity.
>Further increases occurred each year through 2003. The estimate is that
>these taxes, which have yielded tens of billions of euros, produced
>100,000 new jobs in new energy-efficiency related industries, while
>contributing to Germany's commitment to reducing greenhouse gases.
>
>The government's ethical commitment to the future and the world. Germany
>has demonstrated this commitment by agreeing to raise its goal for
>reducing greenhouse gas emissions from the Kyoto Accord's requirement of
>21% by 2008-2012 to 25% by 2005, and b! y adopting the Enquete
>Commission's conclusion that the global energy supply system must be
>designed in such a way that they will no longer generate any highly
>radioactive waste in the future."
>
>The government's long-term commitment. The German government has
>established firm goals for renewable energy growth and carbon dioxide
>abatement for 2010 and 2020. The policy horizon extends to 2030, when
>nuclear power is to have been fully phased out, and then to 2050, when a
>dominant share of Germany's energy will be produced renewably. Germany's
>goals extend sufficiently long to assure its renewable energy
>transition.
>
>To realize a goal of 45% penetration of renewable energy by 2050, energy
>productivity must also improve by a significant factor, so that total
>energy use in 2050 will need to be about 37% less than it is today.
>
>Ten Years On, New Jobs, Revenues
>
>By the end of 2003, Germany had an estimated 45,400 permanent jobs
>resulting from the wind ind! ustry alone, a figure expected to increase
>to 103,000 jobs by 2010. About one new job is created in the German wind
>industry for every 300 kW capacity installed, for a technology that
>contributes 6.2% of the nation's demand for electricity. In contrast,
>the German nuclear industry, which supplies about 30% of the nation's
>electricity, employs 38,000 people. The German wind industry therefore
>produces 10 times as many jobs per unit of installed capacity, and more
>than 20 times the jobs in terms of delivered electricity. About 35,000
>people are employed in the solar industries. Total solar sales grew by
>60% in 2004, to more than 2 billion euros (US$2.6 billion).
>
>Starting from almost no renewable energy applications, Germany has moved
>to the forefront of global renewable energy in just 10 years.
>Governments need no longer doubt if it is possible. Other governments
>would do well to follow suit, by recasting their national energy
>policies to capitalize on nature's renewable bounty.
>
>++++
>
>Donald Aitken has been on the board of the German-based International
>Solar Energy Society for eight years. Contact him:
>[log in to unmask]
>www.donaldaitkenassociates.com <http://www.donaldaitkenassociates.com/>
>
>http://www.energybulletin.net/5000.html
><http://www.energybulletin.net/5000.html>
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