Germany World Leader in Solar Power Systems
Last year Germany edged ahead of other leading countries in terms of the volume of new solar power systems installed. The German solar industry association reported that solar panel manufacturers doubled their production capacity and created 5,000 jobs in 2004.
New solar power systems with a total output potential of around 300 megawatts were installed nationwide last year. This compares with a volume of new installations in Japan amounting to 280 megawatts and in the United States to 90 megawatts.
German government promotes renewable energies
This trend is supported by the favorable conditions the German government created for solar energy production under the Renewable Energies Act. In 1998, when the current government took office, the volume of solar energy potential being installed annually amounted to only 14 megawatts, compared to more than twenty times this amount in 2004.
Growth sector
The success of the solar energy industry has resulted in the creation of new jobs. Solar industry association secretary-general Carsten Körnig noted that more than 5,000 jobs were created in the sector last year and that around 30,000 people are currently employed in the industry.
Sales in 2004 rose by 60 percent to more than two billion euros, compared with 840 million in 2002 and around 1.3 billion in 2003. The renewable energies sector has become an important factor for economic growth and job creation.
Links
Renewables 2004 in Bonn a "Total Success" (June 2004)
renewables made in germany
Environment Ministry
Print page
Back
