New German Renewable Energies Law Strengthens Sector Investment

Berlin (ots) - The German parliament (Bundestag) has agreed to new
laws that strengthen conditions for renewable energies investments.
The laws are part of the government's "Climate Package," the goals of
which are saving 250 million metric tons of CO2 by 2020, with
renewable energies contributing to 30% of electricity production by
the same year. These legal changes strengthen Germany as an
investment location for renewable energies and energy efficiency
technologies.

One element of the reform is an amendment to the Renewable
Energies Sources Act (EEG). This change calls for a higher "feed-in
tariff" for wind energy. The feed-in tariff is the compensation paid
to owners of renewable energies systems when energy from their
systems is sold to the public grid. The new law raises the feed in
tariff for wind energy to a range of 9.2-15 ?cent/KWh.

The parliament also reformed the EEG for electricity from solar
energy. Photovoltaic (PV) systems will receive a feed-in tariff of
33-43 ?cent/KWh, depending on the amount of electricity sold to the
public grid. According to the new law the tariff will decrease
between 8 and 10% in 2010 and then 9% annually after 2011.

These two reforms are important for investors. For wind energy,
the increased tariffs provide further incentive for wind energy
companies to enter the world's largest market in wind energy
(measured in accumulated capacity).

The falling tariffs in PV energy are evidence to investors that
Germany is making significant progress in reducing the cost of
electricity generation from PV sources, therefore making subsidized
prices less necessary to attract investment. This progress has been
made thanks to highly qualified workers in the PV sector in Germany,
the location of top research institutes, and leading suppliers. These
conditions make Germany an attractive location for production or R&D
in the PV sector.

Germany's legal reforms also promote biomass. Investors in this
sector can receive feed-in tariffs of 7.79-11.67 ?Cent/KWh for
electricity from biomass. There are also bonus incentives to
encourage the use of sustainable raw materials, or the simultaneous
use of biomass in a combined heat and power (CHP, or co-generation)
plant.

The legal reforms further add to Germany's attraction to investors
in the biomass sector. An increased domestic demand for biomass
technology and products is bringing major investors to Germany.

The climate package also calls for the promotion of heat from
renewable sources. These laws require that new buildings have heating
systems deriving heat from renewable sources. Financial incentives
will be made available to equip older buildings with such
technologies. These laws provide a ready made market, plus ?500
million of available funding, for investors in energy efficient
heating technologies such as solar thermal heating. Germany is
already Europe's largest market for solar thermal technologies and
offers foreign investors many possibilities.

Investors in heat-producing technologies also have growth
possibilities in CHP systems. Here the federal government has made
?750 million available annually to support CHP projects. The
government has set the specific goal of having 25% of energy and heat
coming from efficient parallel-production technologies by 2020.

All of these legal reforms, plus others that encourage energy
efficient technologies, e.g. "intelligent electricity meters," make
it clear that Germany is consolidating its position as world leader
in renewable energies and offering many possibilities for foreign
investors to enter its growing market.

Invest in Germany is the inward investment promotion agency of the
Federal Republic of Germany. It provides investors with comprehensive
support from site selection to the implementation of investment
decisions.

Originaltext: Invest in Germany
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Pressekontakt:
Invest in Germany
Eva Henkel
Tel: +49 30 200099-173
Email: Henkel@invest-in-germany.com