February 2002 - Nr. 2
Investment Program for Innovative Energy Technologies Off to Successful Start
TWIG - Nearly 80 research and development projects for environmentally friendly energy technologies are taking off thanks to a new federal sponsorship program. The Zukunfts Investitions Program (ZIP, or future investment program) was started in 2000 by the Ministry of Economics and Technology. ZIP funding, some 123 million euros (US$110 million), comes from the sale of Universal Mobile Telecommunications System licenses auctioned off by the federal government last year. The program is designed to increase long-term investment in energy research and to accelerate the market launch of new technologies.
Key areas of R&D focus include:
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fuel cells for stationary and mobile uses (44 projects)
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new propulsion technologies and renewable propellants (11 projects)
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geothermal power generation (6 projects)
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offshore wind energy (3 research platforms for offshore wind parks), and
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energy-conservation-oriented restoration of older buildings (13 projects).
Minister of Economics and Technology Werner Mueller says, "In [these] difficult economic times, the federal government and private enterprises are making available significant additional sources of financing for the development of new, more cost-intensive technologies." He expressed confidence that ZIP will lead to innovation "that will give medium- and long-term stimulus not only to the energy and environmental protection fields but to the labour market as well."
