Tuesday 15 April 2008

Solar ascendancy could be eclipsed

Australian Financial Review
Wednesday 9/4/2008 Page: 68

About 160 institutions in Germany are doing research on solar technology and generous state subsidies for roof-mounted photo-voltaic systems mean this not particularly sunny nation has one of the highest rates of solar electricity generation in the world. Q-Cells, near Leipzig, became the world's largest maker of photovoltaic cells last year, surpassing Sharp of Japan. Sales are up 60 percent and profits are up 70 percent. Demand for high-grade silicon to make the cells has pushed prices from US$25 a kilogram to US$400 a kilogram over the last 5 years.

Electricity generated from renewable sources in Germany is now over 14 percent, surpassing the European Union's target of 12.5 percent. Some believe that renewable energy equipment could become as important to Germany's economy as machine tools and automobiles. The World Future Council says that Germany's EEG renewable energy law is the best in the world. Dieter Helm of the University of Oxford says that wind generation is more efficient than solar but Kurt Rohrig of solar research institute ISET at the University of Kassel believes wind power will reach saturation within the next three decades whereas solar is potentially limitless. New thin film technology is expected to overtake photovoltaic in the near future.

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