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GreenTech Week in Review
Green Technology Featured Articles
June 01, 2013

GreenTech Week in Review

By Cheryl Kaften
TMCnet Contributor

In green technology developments this week, all eyes already are turning to Europe, where a preliminary decision is expected on June 5 in the continent’s anti-dumping (AD) and countervailing duty (CVD) cases against China’s manufacturers of solar modules. The trade brawl—which was instigated by Bonn, Germany-based SolarWorld AG and in which German Chancellor Angela Merkel has played a largely conciliatory role—could conclude with the imposition of punitive duties averaging 47 percent on the Chinese and could be a game-changer for the industry.


Indeed, if duties are mandated, China’s panel prices in the European Union, its largest market, will go up—and demand will go down. That could trigger a final shakeout in China’s solar industry—but, possibly, too late to save many of Europe’s upstream producers, including SolarWorld AG. Frank Asbeck, CEO and founder of SolarWorld, told German newspaper Handelsblatt on May 31 that he still is holding talks with a mysterious Qatari investor, who is interested in supporting a bailout.

In a meeting on May 26 with Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, German Chancellor Merkel reiterated her stance. “Germany will work for this to be resolved as quickly as possible because we don't believe [tariffs] would help us very much," she said. EU Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht also received a visit from Chinese Vice-Minister of Commerce Zhong Shan in Brussels on May 27, and released a statement that he would be open to the possibility of a negotiated settlement.

In related news, in a report released on May 24, the Paris-based International Energy Agency (IEA) recognized Germany’s role as a leader in the worldwide renewable energy revolution—and challenged the nation to do even more to “maintain a balance between sustainability, affordability and competitiveness.” Through its Energiewende—a transitional national plan to abandon nuclear and petroleum energy—Germany has developed and documented a comprehensive energy strategy, ambitious renewable energy targets and plans to reduce energy consumption, the IEA said.

Nonetheless, according to the new policy research and policy document, “Energy Policies of IEA Countries – Germany 2013 Review,” the scale of Germany’s energy policy ambitions, coupled with the size and energy intensity of its economy, and its location at the heart of Europe’s energy system, mean that further policy measures are necessary. The report notes that retail electricity prices must remain at an affordable level. “The fact that German electricity prices are among the highest in Europe, despite relatively low wholesale prices, must serve as a warning signal,” said IEA Executive Director Maria van der Hoeven. She also pointed out the growing, strategic role of natural gas, stating, “Further … thought needs to be given to [the use of natural gas] and [its] place in the energy supply mix of the future.”

Finally, German renewable energy hit the news for a third time this week when the nation’s federal government selected Battery Electric Heavy Goods Transports within the Intelligent Container Terminal Operation (BESIC) as one of its six new flagship e-mobility projects. The goal of the BESIC project is to use peak loads of renewable energy, such as wind and solar power, to charge the batteries of the electric heavy goods vehicles that transport containers at the HHLA Container Terminal Altenwerder on the River Elbe in Hamburg. The port terminal—one of the most modern in the world— is owned by the Hamburger Hafen und Logistik AG and Hapag-LLoyd AG shipping lines.

The port owners are collaborating with Düsseldorf-based Gottwald Port Technology GmbH (Gottwald), the Swedish power company Vattenfall, and the Universities of Oldenburg, Göttingen and Clausthal on the e-mobility project—which is being coordinated by the Energy Research Centre of Lower Saxony (EFZN). The project has been subsidized by the Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology.  Both the practical feasibility and the commercial viability of such a model are being examined.





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