Stromeinspeisungsgesetz is the name of a German law that created the boom of the renewable energy market in the 1990’s. In 1990, Germany had virtually no renewable energy industry. At the end of the 1990’s, Germany was well ahead of the rest of the world, both in wind energy and Solar photoVoltaic. Stromeinspeisungsgesetz means Electricity-Feed-in Law. It was passed in late 1990 and required utilities to purchase all the renewable energy generated in their sector and at the minimum price of 90% of retail price. The second law passed by the Bundestag in 2000, the “Renewable Energy Law, went one step further and required the utilities to pay for the cost of connection from the renewable energy system to the grid and established specific per kilowatt-hr tariff based on the real cost of generation. This removed some hidden subsidies to nuclear energy, which had huge real costs – when taking into account plant decommissioning nuclear energy costs about 10-14 cents /kwh. It gave also a boost to wind power which has the lower costs in terms of REAL cost (wind real cost= 4 ~ 6 cents /kwh) Both Electricity-Feed-in Law and Renewable Energy Law had an enormous impact on Germany’s renewables industries. Above all, they ended price uncertainties and provided investors’ confidence.
• from: World Watch Institute • in detail • see also: State of The World 2003 XlnkS561 XlnkC17DD