Solas Power has confirmed that the Advisory Committee on Environmental Issues to the German Parliament (Sachverständigenrat für Umweltfragen – SRU) today submitted its special report on ways to achieve a 100% renewable electricity supply to Federal Environment Minister Röttgen. 100% renewable electricity generation is possible by 2050. Subsidies for new PV systems should be capped.
Last May, SRU presented a report, according to which a 100% renewable, yet affordable energy supply was possible in Germany by 2050. The new 663 page expert opinion looks at 8 scenarios for 100% renewable electricity generation. It contains suggestions for an amendment of the Renewable Energy Sources Act (EEG), so as to obtain a cost-efficient renewable energy portfolio by 2050.
SRU member Prof. Dr. Karin Holm-Müller, an economist, called the EEG a success story, which was copied by other countries. Its supporting pillars, the obligation of grid operators to purchase renewable energy (Einspeisevorrang) and the fixed feed-in tariffs, should continue to apply in the future. However, there was a need to amend feed-in tariff to curb costs, Mrs Holm-Müller said. Feed-in tariffs for the rapidly growing but relatively expensive solar electricity should be reduced and capped, SRU demanded.
Solar tariffs were much too high, the report says. Despite cuts in the past, the industry was growing, and expansion forecasts for 2010 exceeded estimates. This expansion was not cost-efficient. There was still a great cost savings potential in the PV market. Not only did the high PV costs endanger consumer acceptance of the EEG system as a whole, but expenses for solar electricity also limited funds for producing renewable energy from more cost-efficient sources.
Therefore, SRU calls for a cap on new PV capacities. Once the annual cap is reached, funding is suspended until next year.
SRU’s recommendations follow shortly after the Federal Ministry for the Environment (BMU) and the solar industry association BSW Solar jointly presented a proposal of solar feed-in tariffs cuts of up to 15% on 1 July and 1 September 2011. The proposal does not contain a hard cap on solar expansion, which has been strictly opposed by the industry association BSW Solar. The magazine Spiegel therefore said the SRU proposal challenged Minister Röttgen. Thomas Bareiß, energy spokesman of the Christian Democratic Party in the Bundestag, a fellow-party member of Minister Röttgen, has repeatedly called a cap the ultima ratio. In October last year, he told Handelsblatt he favoured a cap of 2,000 MWp.
While the SRU report stresses that it was up to the government where exactly it wanted to set the cap, Financial Times Deutschland said SRU member Prof. Olav Hohmeyer spoke out in favour of a 1,000 MWp cap in an article to be published by the newspaper Die Zeit on Thursday. The economist, who lectures at the university of Flensburg, said he believed that PV would only play a “miniscule role” in the renewable energy supply of the future.
SRU does not consider the extension of the operation times of the German nuclear power stations necessary. Furthermore, it does not consider the construction of new coal-fired power plants using CCS technology necessary.
The report also focuses on ways to accelerate the necessary national and international grid expansion, as well as efforts to link the national transformation process with the European energy and climate policy.
SRU also suggests to accelerate grid expansion by drawing up a national plan for transmission networks until 2030 (Bundesfachplan Stromübertragungsnetz 2030). Besides, the committee recommends to render investments in networks more attractive and to hold tender procedures for important power lines. Also, the great storage potential that exists in Norway with its hydro power plants, should be made accessible, SRU says. To this end the German government should strive for a close cooperation with Norway, SRU recommends.
SRU believes that it is of great importance that the national transitition process towards a renewable energy supply is supplemented by a European climate and energy policy, in particular an expansion of the European transmission networks and a “European Renewable Energy Roadmap until 2030″.
Investing in the future of energy is in all our long-term interests but, for those with foresight, the monetary returns could occur sooner than you think.
Showing posts with label Solas Power. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Solas Power. Show all posts
Thursday, January 27, 2011
GERMAN FIT TO BE REDUCED FROM 1st July 2011
SOLAS POWER has learned that the Federal Ministry for the Environment (BMU) and the solar industry association BSW Solar jointly presented a proposal to bring forward parts of the regular 2012 solar feed-in tariff cuts to 1 July and 1 September 2011. The July/September reductions up to 15% shall depend on PV capacity installed in March, April and May 2011. The move is due to the continued massive solar expansion and the increasing costs for consumers in the recent past, which triggered criticism from various parties, including consumer protection agencies.
The proposal contains the following main elements:
•The proposed 1 July/1 September 2011 reduction shall bring forward parts of the 2012 degression currently contained in the Renewable Energy Sources Act (EEG);
•For freestanding PV systems, the degression shall be effective 1 September, for other systems it shall be 1 July 2011;
•The July/September reduction will cover the quantity dependent part of the 2012 degression, i.e. the part of the 2012 reduction that depends on the additionally installed capacity in 2011 ( additional 3% above 3,500/4,500/5,500/6,500 MWp);
•For capacity growth exceeding 7,500 MWp, an additional 3% degression shall be introduced. This brings the maximum mid-year reduction to 15% (i.e. 5 times 3%);
•The 9% reduction for 2012 that applies regardless of additionally installed capacity remains unchanged and shall remain to become effective 1 January 2012;
•The 2011 mid-year degression rates will be based on a forecast for which the new capacities of March to May 2011 will be extrapolated for the whole year by the Federal Network Agency;
•For installations starting operation after 1 January 2012, the degression rate shall depend on the actual market growth in 2011 (and not the extrapolated figures used for the July/September 2011 reduction).
Based on this proposal, a hard cap on solar expansion, which had been strictly opposed by the industry association BSW Solar, is off the table for the time being. ”We welcome the decision, which expresses the political commitment with respect to the expansion of photovoltaics, the German production facilities, and the 130,000 jobs created by the industry”, Günther Cramer, President of BSW Solar said.
After having heavily opposed last year’s feed-in tariff cuts, the solar sector itself is in favour of the cuts now proposed, as Björn Klusmann, managing director of the German Renewable Energy Federation (BEE) told the newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine. Without a further reduction of solar feed-in tariffs, the whole renewables sector might have come under pressure because of the rising electricity prices.
According to BSW Solar, more than 230,000 solar power plants with a total capacity of 7 to 8 GW have been connected to the grid in Germany in 2010. Solar energy meanwhile accounts for about 2% of total final energy consumption. However, almost half of the estimated EUR 13 billion in reallocation charges paid pursuant to the EEG are attributable to solar energy, the newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung writes. With the so-called EEG reallocation charge, consumers have to pay the difference between market prices for renewable energy and the feed-in tariffs pursuant to the EEG.
BMU also proposes to contain the costs of the “Green Power Privilege” (Grünstromprivileg). This relates to an exemption for utilities that supply electricity deriving at least for 50% from renewable energy sources. We will cover this proposal in a separate blog post.
The proposal for the new 2011 feed-in tariff reduction will be presented to the Bundestag for decision, and may be amended during the parliamentary process. Technically, the proposal is likely to be added to an existing proposal to amend the EEG in the context of the European renewable energies directive (Directive 2009/28/EC). This would allow an expedited parliamentary procedure to introduce the 2011 reductions.
The proposal contains the following main elements:
•The proposed 1 July/1 September 2011 reduction shall bring forward parts of the 2012 degression currently contained in the Renewable Energy Sources Act (EEG);
•For freestanding PV systems, the degression shall be effective 1 September, for other systems it shall be 1 July 2011;
•The July/September reduction will cover the quantity dependent part of the 2012 degression, i.e. the part of the 2012 reduction that depends on the additionally installed capacity in 2011 ( additional 3% above 3,500/4,500/5,500/6,500 MWp);
•For capacity growth exceeding 7,500 MWp, an additional 3% degression shall be introduced. This brings the maximum mid-year reduction to 15% (i.e. 5 times 3%);
•The 9% reduction for 2012 that applies regardless of additionally installed capacity remains unchanged and shall remain to become effective 1 January 2012;
•The 2011 mid-year degression rates will be based on a forecast for which the new capacities of March to May 2011 will be extrapolated for the whole year by the Federal Network Agency;
•For installations starting operation after 1 January 2012, the degression rate shall depend on the actual market growth in 2011 (and not the extrapolated figures used for the July/September 2011 reduction).
Based on this proposal, a hard cap on solar expansion, which had been strictly opposed by the industry association BSW Solar, is off the table for the time being. ”We welcome the decision, which expresses the political commitment with respect to the expansion of photovoltaics, the German production facilities, and the 130,000 jobs created by the industry”, Günther Cramer, President of BSW Solar said.
After having heavily opposed last year’s feed-in tariff cuts, the solar sector itself is in favour of the cuts now proposed, as Björn Klusmann, managing director of the German Renewable Energy Federation (BEE) told the newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine. Without a further reduction of solar feed-in tariffs, the whole renewables sector might have come under pressure because of the rising electricity prices.
According to BSW Solar, more than 230,000 solar power plants with a total capacity of 7 to 8 GW have been connected to the grid in Germany in 2010. Solar energy meanwhile accounts for about 2% of total final energy consumption. However, almost half of the estimated EUR 13 billion in reallocation charges paid pursuant to the EEG are attributable to solar energy, the newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung writes. With the so-called EEG reallocation charge, consumers have to pay the difference between market prices for renewable energy and the feed-in tariffs pursuant to the EEG.
BMU also proposes to contain the costs of the “Green Power Privilege” (Grünstromprivileg). This relates to an exemption for utilities that supply electricity deriving at least for 50% from renewable energy sources. We will cover this proposal in a separate blog post.
The proposal for the new 2011 feed-in tariff reduction will be presented to the Bundestag for decision, and may be amended during the parliamentary process. Technically, the proposal is likely to be added to an existing proposal to amend the EEG in the context of the European renewable energies directive (Directive 2009/28/EC). This would allow an expedited parliamentary procedure to introduce the 2011 reductions.
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
GERMANY BACK IN THE FAST LANE
Solas Power has seen from recent reports that German, French and Belgian business sentiment picked up by an unexpectedly high degree at the start of the year, suggesting that Germany’s broadening economic recovery is sustaining manufacturing in other parts of the eurozone.
Germany’s Ifo institute said its business climate index hit 110.3 points in January, up from 109.8 the previous month and its highest level since it started tracking sentiment 20 years ago.
The French statistics agency Insee said its manufacturing sentiment index jumped 6 points to 108, the biggest monthly rise since mid-1999, while Belgium’s central bank said its business confidence tally rose 1.4 points to 4.5. With foreign orders filling Belgian companies’ order books, François Cabau at Barclays Capital said the country’s economic momentum “has a lot to do with the pace of its trading partners – most importantly Germany”.
Economists see Europe’s largest economy growing about 2.5 per cent this year, against forecast French growth of only 1.5 per cent and a Belgian rate of 1.8 per cent as public spending cuts and oil price rises bite.
But some said the uptick in sentiment could be a sign that German demand is sustaining French companies in particular more than expected. The two countries are each other’s biggest export markets.
“German and French companies are powering ahead in Europe, reinforcing the upswing of each other,” said Andreas Rees at UniCredit in Munich. He welcomed the revival “of the good old Franco-German economic axis”.
This would cut Germany’s reliance on exports to Asia, he added. With fewer jobless, stronger private consumption and business investing once more, “one should not exclude” the possibility of German growth nudging 3 per cent.
Carsten Brzeski, economist at ING bank in Brussels, said the Ifo data were “a strong signal” that the German economy would “continue to power ahead” after its stellar growth of 3.6 per cent in 2010.
Last year’s export-led recovery drove unemployment down, spurring private consumption for the first time in years. Now economists are expecting domestic demand to receive a further boost from corporate investment.
“The conditions to initiate a virtuous circle [of growth] have hardly been better in 15 years,” Mr Brzeski said in a note to clients.
The German government on Wednesday forecast that the economy would grow 2.3 per cent this year – up half a point from its autumn forecast – with the average jobless rate falling to 7 per cent from 7.7 per cent in 2010.
Aided by more private spending and corporate investment, domestic consumption would raise GDP by 2 per cent, contributing three-quarters of economic growth, up on a two-thirds share last year.
Germany’s Ifo institute said its business climate index hit 110.3 points in January, up from 109.8 the previous month and its highest level since it started tracking sentiment 20 years ago.
The French statistics agency Insee said its manufacturing sentiment index jumped 6 points to 108, the biggest monthly rise since mid-1999, while Belgium’s central bank said its business confidence tally rose 1.4 points to 4.5. With foreign orders filling Belgian companies’ order books, François Cabau at Barclays Capital said the country’s economic momentum “has a lot to do with the pace of its trading partners – most importantly Germany”.
Economists see Europe’s largest economy growing about 2.5 per cent this year, against forecast French growth of only 1.5 per cent and a Belgian rate of 1.8 per cent as public spending cuts and oil price rises bite.
But some said the uptick in sentiment could be a sign that German demand is sustaining French companies in particular more than expected. The two countries are each other’s biggest export markets.
“German and French companies are powering ahead in Europe, reinforcing the upswing of each other,” said Andreas Rees at UniCredit in Munich. He welcomed the revival “of the good old Franco-German economic axis”.
This would cut Germany’s reliance on exports to Asia, he added. With fewer jobless, stronger private consumption and business investing once more, “one should not exclude” the possibility of German growth nudging 3 per cent.
Carsten Brzeski, economist at ING bank in Brussels, said the Ifo data were “a strong signal” that the German economy would “continue to power ahead” after its stellar growth of 3.6 per cent in 2010.
Last year’s export-led recovery drove unemployment down, spurring private consumption for the first time in years. Now economists are expecting domestic demand to receive a further boost from corporate investment.
“The conditions to initiate a virtuous circle [of growth] have hardly been better in 15 years,” Mr Brzeski said in a note to clients.
The German government on Wednesday forecast that the economy would grow 2.3 per cent this year – up half a point from its autumn forecast – with the average jobless rate falling to 7 per cent from 7.7 per cent in 2010.
Aided by more private spending and corporate investment, domestic consumption would raise GDP by 2 per cent, contributing three-quarters of economic growth, up on a two-thirds share last year.
German FIT Analysis
Figure 1. End-user electricity consumption (gray columns, left Y-axis), and physically measured cumulative feed-in of renewable electricity with EEG incentives (green columns, right Y-axis). 2000 has been measured only from April 1st (BMU spreadsheet). Germany's end-user electricity consumption more or less stabilized in 2005-2008. 2009 has been a global crisis year, with a considerable drop in electricity consumption (Germany: minus 5,6% as compared to 2008). Renewable electricity production under EEG feed-in conditions - almost all fed directly into the net - grew continuously, up till 74,9 TWh in that "crisis" year, with strong to massive (PV) growth of new installations promising more full-year renewable electricity production in coming years. Average growth of EEG production in this period has been 7,2 TWh/year. Year-on-year growth percentage was, on average, 26%.
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
German Government announces FIT reduction for 2011
Solas Power News - The German Government has reached an agreement with the country’s solar industry to tailor solar photovoltaic (PV) feed-in tariffs to installed capacity.
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