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The Week in Germany: Business and Technology May 11, 2007 Cloudy Germany a Powerhouse in Solar Energy
The Washington Post on Saturday (May 5) prominently flagged up Germany's burgeoning role at the vanguard of the global solar power sector under the catchy headline "Cloudy Germany a Powerhouse in Solar Energy". As underscored in the piece by the Post's Craig Whitlock, about half of the world's solar electricity was produced in Germany last year. "Of the 20 biggest photovoltaic plants, 15 are in Germany, even though it has only half as many sunny days as countries such as Portugal," Whitlock posits. A law adopted in 2000 that requires German utility companies to subsidize solar plants by purchasing their electricity is behind the boom. It is part a wider strategy implemented by the German government to boost production of renewable energy sources, including wind power and biofuels. At present, the world's largest solar plant is the Solarpark Gut Erlasee in Bavaria. And German firms that manufacture photovoltaic panels and other components have prospered in recent years. Mathias Machnik, an undersecretary for the German Environment Ministry, said that while the country cannot compete in the long term with perpetually sunny ones in generating solar power, it hopes to expand its exports of solar technology and become a leader in that field as well.
"Unless climate change accelerates, we only have a certain amount of available hours of sunshine," Machnik said in an interview. "For us, of course we will use solar power, but it is more important to secure know-how for research and development." TWIG would however still like to beg to differ at least somewhat on the "cloudy" part of the Post headline, given that parts of southern Germany can actually be quite sunny much of the year, none more so than the charming historic university town of Freiburg, nestled amid gently sloping woodlands and warm wine country in the southwestern corner of the country. (TWIG/Washington Post) South Korea to Build World's Largest Solar Power Station Using German Technology Meanwhile Hamburg-based SunTechnics said in a statement Wednesday (9 May) that a South Korean engineering firm will build the world's largest solar power station in the southwest of the country using German technology. South Korea's Dongyang Engineering & Construction Corp and SunTechnics will build the solar power station with an output of 20 megawatts to be completed by November 2008. The plant in Sinan, 400 kilometers southwest of Seoul, will be the size of 80 football fields, or 600,000 square meters. With the building of the South Korean solar power station the subsidiary of Hamburg Conergy AG said it will increase its East Asian market share by 25 percent. Yet South Korea won't hold the title of largest solar park for long as
a 40 megawatt photovoltaic plant is planned to be constructed on a former
military base east of Leipzig, Germany by 2009. (dpa)
The new Renewable Energy Sources Act (Erneuerbare-Energien-Gesetz,
EEG) of 21 July 2004 makes it compulsory for operators of power grids
to give priority to feeding electricity from renewable energies into the
grid and to pay fixed prices for this. The adoption of the precursor to
the Renewable Energy Sources Act in 1990 triggered a major increase in
wind power generation. The entry into force of the Renewable Energy Sources
Act in 2000 has led to a similar boom in biomass and photovoltaics. The
use of geothermal energy for electricity generation has also developed
considerably. The Renewable Energy Sources Act has thus proved to be an
exemplary and successful tool of energy policy. (German Federal Environment
Ministry) Links: The full Washington Post story (May 5, 2007) Boosting Energy Efficiency Imperative to Avert Climate Crisis (TWIG, May 4, 2007) Berlin Conference Discusses Ways to Save Energy (TWIG, April 27, 2007) German
Companies World Leaders in Renewable Energies EU Energy Plan Heralds Industrial Revolution (TWIG, Jan. 12, 2007) |
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