BERLIN, July 6 (UPI) -- Germany is looking to shift some of its large solar power subsidies to the offshore wind industry.
Environment Minister Sigmar Gabriel presented a report calling for subsidies to the German solar power sector to be reduced, while increasing incentives for building wind turbines in the North and Baltic Seas, Inside Greentech reported Friday.
The subsidy plan was introduced in a progress report on the country's Renewable Energies Law, passed in 2000. The REL is cited as the driving force behind Germany's solar power market, one of the most successful solar markets in the world despite the greater solar potential of other countries.
Subsidies for wind have declined annually by 2 percent to allow the market to take over, and Gabriel's plan would cut the rate to 1 percent and push back the decreasing of offshore wind power subsidies from 2008 to 2014. In addition, it suggests a 0.7 cent increase in the payment per kilowatt hour for onshore wind farms and a raise in the compensation for offshore wind power from 8.74 cents per kilowatt hour to between 11 cents and 14 cents in 2008.
Germany has already surpassed its goal of generating about 12 percent of its energy from renewable sources by 2010, currently generating about 13 percent of its energy from renewable sources.
The reduction is part of one of the most aggressive carbon dioxide reduction targets in the world. Germany's goal is to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions 40 percent from 1990 levels by 2020.
