An ambitious cross-subsidy scheme has given rise to a new industry
Q-CELLS, based in Wolfen, just north of Leipzig, is the world's biggest maker of the photovoltaic cells used in solar panels. It overtook Sharp of Japan last year and announced big jumps in sales (up 59%) and profits (up 69%) on March 27th. Germany, which is not known for being sunny, seems an unusual place to find this industry leader. But the country leads the world in its installed capacity of renewable energy sources (see chart), and is the third-biggest producer of solar panels, after China and Japan.
The environment ministry's latest report on the state of the industry, released on March 12th, shows how quickly it is growing. Renewables now account for 6.7% of energy consumption, up from 5.5% in 2006 and 3.5% in 2003. The industry's turnover was €24.6 billion ($32.9 billion) in 2007, up 10% on 2006 and nearly four times the figure for 2000. The share of electricity generated from renewable sources reached 14.2%, a big jump from 11.7% in 2006, owing in part to stronger-than-usual winds last year. This means Germany has already met the European Union's national target that 12.5% of electricity should come from renewable sources.
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