The next Occupy: Solar energy?
Solar energy, it seems, has become too successful for its own good.
Incentives in places like the UK and Germany have encouraged so many people to put up solar panels that officials are now saying they have to cut back. In Britain, the decision prompted an outcry — and a lawsuit — from the solar industry and environmentalists. In Germany, the decision has prompted thousands to take to the streets in protest.
Some 11,000 people joined a demonstration in Berlin today to oppose the German government’s plan for steep cuts to feed-in tariff rates offered to people who install solar panels, according to the German Solar Industry Association. The rally was organized by the solar association along with other groups, including the Confederation of German Trade Unions; the Industrial Union of Steel Workers; the Mining, Chemical and Energy Industrial Union; and the German Environmental Aid Association. Participants were also encouraged to send e-cards to officials (the one pictured above reads, “Future investments pay off, political mistakes don’t”).
Demonstrators say the government’s proposal to more than halve solar incentives this year, and cut them even further down the road, runs counter to the desires of most citizens.
“In Germany there is a clear civic majority that stands firmly behind clean solar power,” said Carsten Körnig, CEO of the German Solar Industry Association. “The population has come to understand that the transformation of the energy system cannot succeed without a citizen-friendly energy such as solar power. Photovoltaics turn citizens into electricity producers, thereby giving them autonomy and protecting them from the financial influence of major energy companies.”
An article in the Guardian last week pointed out that some people in the renewables industries wonder aloud whether the feed-in tariff cuts are aimed at mollifying the traditional energy sector, especially in light of Germany’s post-Fukushima decision to exit nuclear power.
The German Solar Industry Association notes that a survey of 1,006 people last month found that 65 percent oppose the government’s proposed cuts to solar incentives.
