What We Can Learn From the Germans

Friday, April 19th: 1:15-2:45 PM

Moderator/Organizer: Anya Schoolman, Community Power Network/Solar Citizen

Panelists:

• David Wedepohl- Markets & Communications Director of the German Solar Industry Association
• Joachim Seel- Researcher, Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, Electricity Markets & Policy Group

In a few short years, Germany has become a world leader in renewable energy, outpacing other countries in implementation of RE electricity generation, PV manufacturing, job creation and a number of other factors. There are now over 350,000 Germans employed in renewable energy – more than in the auto industry. The German government has made it a point to decentralize power generation, so over half the country’s clean power is owned by individuals or farmers, providing political support across multiple constituencies. How far has Germany come exactly? What policies made all of this possible? And what could be replicated in the US? Many people attribute Germany’s incredible success to subsidies, but what are the important policies such as guaranteed interconnection and priority access to the grid that make the German case so important for American’s to understand. How does the policy emphasis on distributed generation affect the political support that solar enjoys in Germany?