Germany looks at shifting solar subsidies to wind

German environment minister Sigmar Gabriel has presented a report to his government calling for subsidies to the German solar power sector to be cut, while bolstering incentives for building wind turbines in the North and Baltic Seas.

The plan was introduced in a progress report Gabriel tabled on the country's Renewable Energies Law, passed in 2000, which was largely responsible for turning Germany into the biggest, most successful solar market in the world.

The government still has to agree on the specifics, but the plan proposes cutting the annual decline in wind subsidies to 1 pct from 2 pct, on top of a 0.7 cent increase in the payment per kilowatt hour (kWh) for onshore wind farms.

Furthermore, subsidies for offshore farms would only start falling in 2014, rather than in 2008.

Under the proposal, the initial remuneration for offshore wind power would rise from 8.74 cents per kWh currently to 11-14 cents in 2008.

Germany has already surpassed its goal of generating about 12 percent of its energy from renewable sources by 2010. Today Germans get 13 percent of their energy from renewable sources.

The country has one of the most aggressive CO2 reduction targets in the world, aiming to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions 40 percent from 1990 levels by 2020.

The German parliament is to debate the new subsidy recommendations in the fall.

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