Germans Investing Billions in Solar Electricity in 2004: Ontario Lags Well Behind

September 7, 2004

Ontario Sustainable Energy Association invites German lawmaker to explain their success with solar electricity

German homeowners, farmers, and businesses will invest 1.2 billion Euros, about $2 billion CAD, in solar-electric systems this year according to a German trade group. The Ontario Sustainable Energy Association (OSEA) is urging Ontario's provincial government to adopt a program similar to that in Germany.

OSEA have invited Dr. Hermann Scheer, the architect of the German renewable energy law to Toronto on October 4 to explain how the program works. Scheer, a member of the German parliament, will share the podium with fellow economists to discuss market mechanisms, like those in Germany, that have worked successfully.

"It is an opportune time for Dr. Scheer to be speaking as Energy Minister Dwight Duncan is in the midst of designing Ontario's electricity future and passing new legislation," said Paul Gipe, OSEA's Acting Executive Director. He went on to say, "For comparison, Ontario's Energy Minister Dwight Duncan has committed nearly $1 billion in public funds to restart one of the inoperative reactors at Pickering."

Gerhard Stryi-Hipp of the German Solar Industry Association says that private investors from all walks of life will install some 20,000 individual solar-electric power systems across Germany in 2004. Germany is about the size of Southern Ontario.

Mr. Gipe observed, "The rocketing growth of solar energy in Germany is the direct result of the German Renewable Energy Sources Act. The law guarantees that farmers, homeowners, and businesses can connect to the electric grid and the law spells out exactly how much they will be paid for their electricity and for how long."

Mr. Stryi-Hipp of the solar trade group says the 300 megawatts (MW) of solar that will be installed this year is double that of 2003, and nearly ten times that installed when the new law was enacted in 2000.

Unlike other mechanisms used to develop renewable energy, the German law elicits the active participation of its citizens and small businesses.

German homeowners typically install solar systems about 3 kilowatt (kW) in size, sufficient to provide two-thirds of the electricity used by an average German home.

German farmers install much bigger solar systems, typically 30 to 50 kW. This is similar in size to the 36 kW solar system recently installed by Toronto Hydro. Such large solar arrays generate 25,000 to 40,000 kWh per year.

By the end of 2004, Germans will be operating a total of 110,000 solar-electric systems, representing about 700 MW. Most of these installations are owned by individuals and small businesses and are capable of generating more than one-half billion kWh per year under German conditions. Because there is one-quarter more sunlight in Ontario than in Germany, the same number of solar panels would generate nearly 680 million kWh in the Canadian province.

The much hyped solar program of Austrian-born Arnold Schwarzenegger in California pales in comparison to that in Germany. The Terminator, California's Governor, recently proposed solar rebates of $300 million CAD through 2017. Germans will spend seven times more than that in 2004 alone.

The German ministry for the environment reports that by the end of the year there will be some 15,000 people working in the rapidly growing solar industry.

Mr. Gipe concluded, "There are only 10 MW of solar-electric systems in all of Canada and less than 50 MW of new renewable sources of energy, such as wind power, in Ontario, the country's most populous province. Conservative estimates of the potential for wind energy alone in Ontario is 24,000 MW."

For more information contact:

Gerhard Stryi-Hipp at the German Solar Industry Association (Bundesverband Solarindustrie), +49 30 29 777 88 0, stryi-hipp@bsi-solar.de, www.bsi-solar.de.