December 2002 - Nr. 12
Vanguard of Renewable Energies Field
TWIG - Germany, with its often overcast skies, may seem an unlikely place to find the world’s leading solar energy credit program. But this month, KfW, Germany’s leading economic development bank, announced that the government’s "100,000 Roofs" initiative is now the largest loan program for the financing of photovoltaic power generation anywhere, putting Germany at the vanguard of the renewable energies field.
The 100,000 Roofs Solar Power Program was the brainchild of the coalition of Social Democrats and Greens that took office in 1998. Driven by the red-green government’s first-term "sustainability" creed, the program was launched in 1999. The objective: to outfit 100,000 private structures with rooftop photovoltaic systems. To help finance the purchase and installation of the expensive systems, KfW offered attractive, fixed-rate loans with long maturities. Interest in the program grew steadily, and this month, the volume of loans granted by KfW under this program reached 1 billion euros.
"The 100,000 Roofs Solar Power Program and the Act on Granting Priority to Renewable Energy Sources are an ideal combination for the boom in the solar sector in Germany," said Detlef Leinberger, a member of KfW’s board of directors. They are also a boon to the environment. The photovoltaic systems installed to date are already enabling Germany to reduce its national carbon dioxide emissions by 100,000 tons each year and the power the systems generate meets the energy needs of 50,000 private households. The program is scheduled to run until the end of 2003.
The Renewable Energy Sources Act, which took effect in 2000, allows the government to assist renewable energy providers in getting a foothold in the marketplace. Among other measures, it ensures that the price paid for electricity generated by solar, wind, biomass, methane and geothermal heat is high enough to allow the systems to operate on an economically viable basis.
