Germany climbs to 2nd place in Ernst & Young's green index

Sep 6, 2012 - The German government’s efforts to remove obstacles for offshore wind energy during the second quarter helped push the country up to the second place in the August 2012 issue of US audit and consultancy company Ernst & Young's "all renewables" index.

Germany shares the second place with the US in the overall index, while it kept its second and fourth places in the wind and solar indices respectively.

Among the positive developments for renewable energy during the quarter were the agreement on subsidy changes for solar photovoltaic (PV) energy and the introduction of a compensation rule for offshore wind grid connection. Moreover, Germany reported that a record-high of 25% of its electricity was generated from renewable sources in the first half of 2012.

The bill on feed-in tariffs (FITs) cuts proposed by Chancellor Angela Merkel was amended to offer higher than expected subsidies for rooftop solar systems and previous plans to introduce a 90% cap on subsidies for plants larger than 10 kW were delayed to 2014. Moreover, incentives for solar power will decline in small monthly steps, rather than in annual or semi-annual cuts as previously planned.

As regards offshore wind power, the government introduced pieces of legislation to coordinate the construction and grid connection of new offshore farms. It also introduced compensations for losses caused by grid connection delays. The draft law on offshore wind power is expected to enter into force by the end of the year.

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