Originally published on Renew Economy. By Sophie Vorrath After a week which saw the use of renewable energy support schemes in Australia described as “plain crazy”, it seems like a good time to take another look at the study published last month by Agora Energiewend that shows European subsidies for solar and wind … [continued]
Originally published in the ECOreport. Renewable sources contributed 27% of Germany’s domestic electricity in the first quarter of 2014. In windy Schleswig-Holstein, which obtained 90% of its energy from renewable sources in 2013, residents hope to reach 100% this year. The role played by fossil fuels and the nuclear sectors is shrinking. … [continued]
Originally published on Lenz Blog. The parties of the German government have introduced a proposal for surcharge industry rebates on May 20. I would like to highlight and briefly discuss two points. The introduction to this proposal has this to say about the relation to the EU Commission guidelines: Ungeachtet des Umstandes, … [continued]
Originally published on EnergyPost. By Gabriel Camus Complaints about the high costs of the Energiewende are misguided. The primary reason German users pay high electricity prices is not the government’s support scheme for renewable energy. It is rather the fact that energy suppliers are not passing on to consumers the … [continued]
Originally published on RenewEconomy. This graph from another report from US investment bank Alliance Bernstein caught our eye. It is a map of the world looking at how solar – on an unsubsidised basis – compares with retail electricity prices in 30 large energy markets. The green shows the grid … [continued]
Originally published on Lenz Blog. Here is yet another reason why the reductions German energy intensive industry gets when paying surcharges are not subsidies, and therefore none of the EU Commission’s business. In more enlightened times, when the Green Party was part of the German government, Germany adopted an ecotax. The idea … [continued]
Originally published in the ECOreport (with edits). Critics have been pecking away at Germany’s solar program for years. George Monbiot, a columists for the Guardian, wrote, “The real net cost of the solar PV installed in Germany between 2000 and 2008 was €35bn, at the end of which solar PV was … [continued]
By Michal Bacia In April of this year, the British Government, through its Department of Energy & Climate Change, announced “…plans to turn the Government estate as well as factories, supermarkets and car parks into solar hubs.” This is huge! Translation? Government support for solar PV distributed generation (DG). Yay! … [continued]
It’s been just a year since Germany began offering a subsidy for residential lithium-ion battery systems. In that time, already more than 4,000 new solar+battery systems have been installed. The figures — which show the subsidy to be a success — were recently released by Germany’s Federal Solar Industry Association … [continued]
Originally published on RenewEconomy. Global investment bank UBS says solar is likely to account for 10 per cent of global electricity capacity by 2020, as production costs continue to fall, and demand soars in the world’s major economies and in other markets. In the latest bullish solar analysis released by … [continued]
