[amor de cosmos]

Germany — $1 Trillion Projected Fossil Fuel Import Savings From Energiewende
March 17, 2013

German Member of Parliament Josef Göppel has published an excellent speech he delivered recently at the Bundestag.

There are many remarkable ideas there, but I want to highlight only one thing mentioned at the end of the document.

Göppel notes that Germany is saving EUR 8 billion a year in fossil fuel import costs right now (about 10 percent of the whole bill) and expects that the cumulative savings up to 2040 will reach more than EUR one trillion.

If one simply adds up the remaining 27 years at 8 billion a year, one would only get a measly 216 billion in savings. Where are the missing 800 billion to go over one trillion?

One factor is that the share of renewable energy for electricity generation will go to 65% in 2040, from less than 25% in 2012. That of course means displacing more fossil fuel and saving more.

http://cleantechnica.com/2013/03/17/...-energiewende/

Japanese solar will overtake Germany and the US in 2013
18. March 2013 | Applications & Installations, Global PV markets, Industry & Suppliers, Markets & Trends | By: Max Hall

Japan's decision to turn its back on nuclear and offer the world's most generous FIT scheme is set to see the country overtake Italy, Germany and the U.S. this year to become the world's second biggest solar market in 2013.

The PV Market in Japan report, by IHS-owned IMS Research, predicts more than a gigawatt of new photovoltaic installations will be added by the end of the month with more than 5 GW added over the remaining three quarters of 2013.

This is down largely to a FIT rate of JPY42/kWh (US$0.44/kWh), described as "perhaps overly generous" by Ash Sharma, senior director of solar research at IHS.

Even with the FIT rate expected to come down around 10% after April 1, the solar policy is expected to drive photovoltaic installations to new heights with Japanese manufacturers the main beneficiaries.

http://www.pv-magazine.com/news/deta...013_100010585/

Softbank plans 111MW PV plant in Tomakomai, Japan
By Julia Chan - 18 March 2013, 12:13
In News, Power Generation, Project Focus

Japanese telecommunications company Softbank is continuing its investment in the solar industry and will develop an 111MW PV facility in Tomakomai, Hokkaido prefecture, Japan.

According to Bloomberg, 79MW of the large-scale project will be connected to Hokkaido Electric Power’s grids. The utility firm will purchase all electricity generated from the facility which is fed into its grids.

The news site also revealed that Softbank expects the plant to become operational by the end of March 2015.

http://www.pv-tech.org/news/softbank...omakomai_japan