Peter Brandt, Sales Manager Solar Technology of teamtechnik, offers his thoughts on the renewable energy industry. Based in Freiberg, Germany, teamtechnik has been making intelligent and reliable automation solutions for the automotive industry and for medical for over 30 years. For the global photovoltaic industry, the company has specialized on high-throughput stringer machines.

By Jeanny Lim

Could you please update us on the global trends in renewable energy investment? What are the future prospects for investment?

For one year, the average module price drops around 30% in Germany. For suppliers, who cannot offer the complete production chain, it will be more and more difficult to follow the price level and to work profitably. On the other hand, a lot of Chinese module manufacturers push hard and fast in order to get a bigger part of the European market.

How much investment has been made into the renewable energy industry in your country/region? And what are the future prospects?

The territory of Germany does not have big resources of oil and natural gas. The pressure to be more independent from the natural resources is very high. With this background, the German government has been supporting the PV industry since the beginning. At the moment, a private investor gets 0.43 per KWh for 20 years for an on-roof installation with max. 30 kWp in 2009. Related to the lower module prices, this value will be decreased in 2010.

What kind of correlation is there between the price of raw materials, oil and electricity and the renewable energy industry?

Here we speak about grid parity, the point at which electricity can be generated at the same cost (or less) than by burning fossil fuels. For sure, high costs of conventional resources will help open the market for renewable energy much faster. The timing of grid parity depends on the territory. It will be earlier in territories of abundant sun light.

Jeanny Lim is Editor-in-Chief of InterPV. Send your comments to swied@infothe. com.

For more information, please send your e-mails to pved@infothe.com.

ⓒ www.interpv.net All rights reserved