Solar Cells Info

Erik Kirschbaum, Reuters News Agency,
Bonn, Germany, July 31, 2007
Source: GlobeandMail.com
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20070731.IBSOLAR31/TPStory/Business

It rains year round in Germany. Clouds cover the skies for about two-thirds of all daylight hours. Yet the country has managed to become the world’s leading solar power generator. Even though millions of Germans flee their damp, dark homeland for holidays in the Mediterranean sun, 55 per cent of the world’s photovoltaic (PV) power is generated on solar panels set up between the Baltic Sea and the Black Forest.

So far just 3 per cent of Germany’s electricity comes from the sun, but the government wants to raise the share of renewable energy to 27 per cent by 2020. It is a thriving industry with booming exports that has created tens of thousands of jobs in recent years, posting growth rates that surpassed the optimistic forecasts made by the fathers of a 2000 renewable energy law.

This law, known by the acronym EEG, has helped this cloudy, rainy country on the northern rim of central Europe become a solar giant. “The EEG was the single most important vehicle to boost the solar energy market,” said Frank Asbeck, chairman of Bonn-based SolarWorld AG. The law, which offers cash incentives to people introducing renewable energy sources, was designed to help fight climate change and reduce dependency on fossil fuels.

“There has also been an enormous interest for solar power from the public in general,” added Mr. Asbeck, who started the company in 1988. His staff of 1,350 workers has doubled in the last two years, and Mr. Asbeck said he plans to double it again within two years. “Germans have a fondness for inventing and developing technologies – especially when it might lead to big export rates. Helping fight climate change is a bonus.”

There are now more than 300,000 photovoltaic systems in Germany – the energy law planned for 100,000. Spread out across the country, they are owned by legions of homeowners, farmers and small businesses capitalizing on the government-backed march into renewable energy. By tapping the daylight for electricity – which power companies are obliged to buy for 20 years at more than triple market prices – they are at the vanguard of a grassroots movement in the fight against climate change.

“It’s grown much faster than anyone thought it would,” said Juergen Trittin, the former environment minister who masterminded the scheme. He was mocked at the time for his claims it would create jobs and not hurt the economy.

Germany’s photovoltaic systems generate about 3,000 megawatts of power. At the heart of the scheme is a “feed-in tariff” giving anyone who generates power from solar PV, wind or hydro a guaranteed payment from the local power company. The power firms are obliged to buy solar electricity for 49 cents per kilowatt hour – nearly four times market rates. This can work out at a better return than putting money in the bank. So despite the cloudy weather, the investment pays for itself within 10 years.

Gerhard Mueller-Westermeyer, a climate researcher at the German national weather service, said most of Germany is covered by clouds about 60 per cent of the time.

By the numbers
250,000 : The number of jobs in Germany’s renewable energy sector.
200,000 : An estimate of how many jobs in solar power alone will exist in Germany by 2020.
300,000 : The number of photovoltaic systems currently in use in Germany.