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Germany's upper house suspends solar subsidy cuts
Germany's upper house suspends solar subsidy cuts
By Markus Wacket
May 11 (Reuters) - The German parliament's upper house suspended the government's proposed cuts in subsidies for the solar power industry on Friday and referred them to a mediation committee, in a setback for Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives.
The opposition and federal states who oppose plans to slash so-called feed-in tariffs by between 20 and nearly 40 percent from April did not get a big enough majority to reject the law in the Bundesrat, but had enough support to delay it, potentially for several months.
States run by the Social Democrats (SPD) and Greens, and some areas of Germany where solar power provides jobs and growth, defend the subsidies that have helped Germany become the world's largest market for power converted from solar radiation, or photovoltaic energy, with 25 megawatts of installed capacity - nearly half of the world's solar capacity.
"Photovoltaic power makes a considerable contribution to reducing the price of electricity," Winfried Kretschmann, the Greens premier of Baden-Wuerttemberg state, told the debate. "This law would put our success story at great risk."
Two of Germany's biggest solar companies...
By Markus Wacket
May 11 (Reuters) - The German parliament's upper house suspended the government's proposed cuts in subsidies for the solar power industry on Friday and referred them to a mediation committee, in a setback for Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives.
The opposition and federal states who oppose plans to slash so-called feed-in tariffs by between 20 and nearly 40 percent from April did not get a big enough majority to reject the law in the Bundesrat, but had enough support to delay it, potentially for several months.
States run by the Social Democrats (SPD) and Greens, and some areas of Germany where solar power provides jobs and growth, defend the subsidies that have helped Germany become the world's largest market for power converted from solar radiation, or photovoltaic energy, with 25 megawatts of installed capacity - nearly half of the world's solar capacity.
"Photovoltaic power makes a considerable contribution to reducing the price of electricity," Winfried Kretschmann, the Greens premier of Baden-Wuerttemberg state, told the debate. "This law would put our success story at great risk."
Two of Germany's biggest solar companies...
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/05/11/germany-solar-idUSL5E8GB5CZ20120511
Germany energy giant RWE hit hard by nuclear exit
AFP Thu May 10 2012
Germany: Germany's second-biggest power supplier RWE said Thursday its net profits had fallen by more than a quarter in the first three months of the year, hit by Berlin's decision to scrap nuclear power.
Net profits fell by 28 percent in the first quarter of the year to 1.3 billion euros ($1.7 billion) on broadly flat earnings of 15.6 billion euros, the firm said in a statement.
...
In the wake of the nuclear disaster in Fukushima, Japan, last year Berlin decided to phase out nuclear power, forcing energy suppliers to shutdown their profitable large-scale power plants.
...
The first quarter results were harmed by a comparison with the first three months of last year, because the nuclear exit decision had not yet been taken at that point...
AFP Thu May 10 2012
Germany: Germany's second-biggest power supplier RWE said Thursday its net profits had fallen by more than a quarter in the first three months of the year, hit by Berlin's decision to scrap nuclear power.
Net profits fell by 28 percent in the first quarter of the year to 1.3 billion euros ($1.7 billion) on broadly flat earnings of 15.6 billion euros, the firm said in a statement.
...
In the wake of the nuclear disaster in Fukushima, Japan, last year Berlin decided to phase out nuclear power, forcing energy suppliers to shutdown their profitable large-scale power plants.
...
The first quarter results were harmed by a comparison with the first three months of last year, because the nuclear exit decision had not yet been taken at that point...
http://www.timesofoman.com/innercat.asp?cat=&detail=4699&sec=news
