For British entrepreneur Timothy Porter and millions of other Europeans who get
generous financial incentives for solar panels, the sun has been very lucrative.
Not only does the government pay Porter for the solar energy he produces, at far
higher than the market rate for electricity, but he can also use what he
generates for himself.
"It's fantastic," he said, admiring the solar panel he installed on the roof of
his home in the English West Midlands two years ago.
Such subsidies are widespread in Europe, where policymakers say that energy from
wind and the sun will stave off global temperature increases they blame on the
use of fossil fuels such as oil and coal. But Europe's debt crisis has many
countries worrying more about their bottom lines than climate.
Across the English Channel, German consumers are waking up to the costs of going
green: As of Jan. 1, they are paying 11% more for electricity than they did last
year thanks to government plans to replace nuclear plants with wind and solar
power that require significant and constant public money to be made
cost-effective.
There were a few reasons the subsidies were put in place years ago.
There was a general desire for energy independence from Russia, where natural
gas had been used as a weapon to pressure nations on political matters and the
cost was unpredictable. Renewable energy was also seen as a source for jobs and
income.
There was also concern for the climate, say analysts: A 2011 Eurobarometer poll
showed that Europeans believe climate change to be a graver problem than the
financial crisis plaguing Europe.
Nowhere is this concern more acute than in Germany. The country has long had an
ambitious clean energy plan that aims to have the entire country running on 80%
renewable energies by the year 2050.
That plan was fast-tracked following the accident at Japan's Fukushima reactor
in March 2011, and by Germans' overwhelming opposition to nuclear power stemming
from the lingering memories of the nuclear disaster at Chernobyl in the former
Soviet Union more than two decades ago. For years after, forest-loving Germans
worried about picking wild mushrooms.
Chancellor Angela Merkel -- once a champion of nukes -- did an about-face. She
announced that all of Germany's 17 nuclear plants would be shut down by the year
2022, 14 years ahead of schedule, and closed eight immediately.
Her decision might have little to do with the safety of Germany's nuclear
reactors. Merkel's conservative Christian Democratic Union party faces federal
elections in September: If she wants to remain chancellor she needs to siphon
votes from rival parties the Greens and Social Democrats, both anti-nuke.
Dubbed the energy transition, the move has become a logistical and financial
headache for Berlin. Nuclear power had represented one-fifth of the country's
energy supply, and Environment Minister Peter Altmaier recently estimated cost
for the shift to renewables could total up to $1.3 trillion by 2030.
The move left some of Germany's neighbors grumbling.
"Outside of Germany, we've noticed that there are two perspectives," said Gerd
Rosenkranz, a spokesman for the non-profit German Environmental Aid. "One is,
'there go those crazy Germans again' and the other is 'there go those crazy
Germans again-aabut it's possible that they'll succeed.' "
