Learn about how Germany is leading the world when it comes to renewable energy.

Renewable energy accounted for 5.8 percent of primary energy consumption in Germany in 2006 and the share of renewable energy in total gross electricity consumption rose to 12 percent. In relation to total road traffic, the contribution of biofuels to fuel supply reached 6.6 percent and, in the heat market, renewables' share in total heat provision was 6 percent. Its proportion in the total final energy consumption rose to 8 percent. A turnover of 11.3 billion euros arose from the erection of plants and 10.3 billion euros from the operation of the plants. Some 214,000 people are now employed in the renewable energy sector and may have managed to prevent some 101 million tons of carbon dioxide from being released into the atmosphere in 2006.

The Federal government has provided the impetus for this development, particularly by regulating the payment for electricity from renewable energy fed into the grid through the Renewable Energy Sources Act (EEG), and through other support programmes such as the market incentive programme for renewable energy (MAP). Following on from these, renewable energy technologies in Germany have become an important industrial sector with high annual growth rates in the last few years. Many innovative German companies have advanced to become international technological leaders, providing key components for the wind energy, hydropower, solar energy, geothermic and biomass sectors.

"Renewables made in Germany" are considered amongst the world leaders and are therefore being used all over the world. The Federal Ministry of Economics is supporting this dynamic industry with a multitude of instruments and wishes to use these pages to provide information on innovative technologies and successful "made in Germany" projects, as well as events and ways in which companies can participate in the foreign trade fairs of the Renewable Energy Export Initiative.

Here are the 5 main focus areas:

1. Solar power

The sun is an enormous power plant. Every day it supplies us with eighty times more energy than is needed in Germany.

The solar industry is a new industrial sector in Germany which has seen enormous growth over the last number of years thanks to state support through the EEG. German solar technology turnover has risen within the last six years from around 450 million euros to some 4.9 billion euros. The companies in the industry have been investing 500 million euros annually in the construction, expansion and modernisation of their solar factories in order to increase their production capacities with solar modules, solar cells and inverters. The number of people employed directly and indirectly in the industry had risen to around 50,000 in 2006 (source: German Federal Association of the Solar Industry (BSW), as of April 2007).

Although Germany's geographical position on the world map does not make it the ideal location for solar energy due to it only receiving moderate levels of solar radiation, it has become the largest solar thermal market in Europe, helped by the MAP. Germany takes second place only to Japan in the world in photovoltaic power generation. The export services and deliveries of the German solar industry include planning, construction, equipment, systems engineering, operation, monitoring, finance packages and training. In addition to this, they are providers of cross-sectoral consulting services, such as technical consultation, feasibility studies, environmental impact studies, audits and measurement instrumentation.

The German Federal Association of the Solar Industry reported that there were 1,300,000 solar plants in Germany in 2006. 220,000 new plants were erected in 2006 alone. In Germany, solar thermal plants are predominantly used to generate hot water and to augment the heating system in private households, but they are also increasingly being used in larger community facilities and open air swimming pools.

Despite the relatively high initial outlay, the popularity of solar thermal and photovoltaic heat and power generation can be explained by the comprehensive state support programmes, especially for photovoltaic plants through the EEG, and by increased environmental awareness, especially amongst private consumers. According to the "Acceptance of Photovoltaics and Solar Thermal Energy in Germany in 2007" study from the Institute for Social Research and Communication in Bielefeld, 27 percent of all house owners now want to use solar thermal energy for heating.

International markets - Recently, solar thermal power plants in the megawatt range have begun to be installed and operated profitably in sunny countries of the world which have 1,700 to 2,800 kilowatt hours of solar energy per square metre annually. Sunlight is clustered on to an absorber by means of systems of mirrors in solar thermal power plants and the heat generated there is used to produce power with the aid of conventional steam turbines, for example.

By using storage technologies, these systems can also supply electricity at night when there isn't any sunshine. These systems are primarily suitable for areas with high levels of solar radiation (e.g. North Africa, Southern Europe, the southern states of the USA). In addition to this, solar energy can also be used as needed for specific situations - to heat greenhouses and stables, to dry agricultural products, to cook, in the form of photovoltaics, primarily for independent electricity generation, to operate high-performance refrigerators for air-conditioning and to provide steam in laundries and industrial firms.