Alternative Energy/Country AE Profiles

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China

General Information and Introduction

The US National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) categorizes China's alternative energy into three categories. First level policies provide general direction and guidance. Second level policies provide goals and development plans. These policies provide direction to national alternative energy efforts. Third level policies provide specific regulations and incentives. (2004. Renewable Energy Policy in China: Overview. available at: [1] [Accessed 5/1/09])


China's Energy Policy.jpg


AE Capacity or Output

How much AE impacts in GIP

Governmental Policies

  • 1995: U.S./China Protocol for Cooperation in the Fields of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy was signed by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and the Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology.

2001. Lew, D. Fueling China's Development Through Renewable Energy., available at: [2] [Accessed 5/1/09]

  • "No standard price-setting mechanisms or systems exist for renewable energy products.

Price is set on a case-by-case basis with protracted negotiation between power producer and the grid or utility." (2004. Renewable Energy Policy in China: Financial Incentives., available at: [3] [Accessed on 5/1/09]

Governmental Incentives and Funding Structure

  • Foreign Investment: Four basic forms:
    • Wholly foreign-owned enterprises
    • China-foreign joint ventures
    • China-foreign cooperative enterprises
    • Cooperative development

(2004. Renewable Energy Business Partnerships in China: Renewable Energy in China., available at: [4] [Accessed 5/1/09]

  • "Income tax: The government collects business income tax from foreign investment enterprises at the rate of 33%, but collects only 15% from enterprises in special economic zones, the national hi-tech industrial zones, and national-grade economic and technical development zones."

(2004. Renewable Energy Business Partnerships in China: Renewable Energy in China., available at: [5] [Accessed 5/1/09]

  • National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC—formerly the State Development and Planning Commission) and the Ministry of Science & Technology (MOST)
    • subsidize research and development of renewable energy technologies

(2004. Renewable Energy Policy in China: Financial Incentives., available at: [6] [Accessed on 5/1/09])

  • Low Interest Loans
    • "SETC’s Department of Resource Conservation and Utilization (DORCU) provided low-interest loans, from the state budget to support industrial development of renewable energy."

(2004. Renewable Energy Policy in China: Financial Incentives., available at: [7] [Accessed on 5/1/09])

Governmental Laboratories and Research Institutes

Research focus

Policies related to technology transfer to market

  • Chinese solar PV manufacturing companies are planning to lead the world with production rising from 350 MW in 2005 to 1500 MW in 2007. (Weiss & Bonvillian 2009, 68)

Global Market Share

Most representative companies

[Image:Goldwind Market Share.jpg]
"Goldwind (Jinfeng) has recently emerged as the leading Chinese wind turbine manufacturer. A Chinese company, Goldwind currently holds 2.8 percent percent of market share in global wind turbine sales, reaching the top 10 for the first time in 2006." (Lewis, 2007) "Goldwind does report to send employees abroad for training, but has not established global innovation networks equivalent to Suzlon’s, having no overseas offices or subsidiaries. Goldwind has conducted minimal R&D with its technology partner REpower in German wind turbine test facilities." (Lewis, 2007)

Market Share

Patents (number and types)

"Since 1996, Goldwind has pursued a business model that allows it to implement modern foreign technologies while promoting its own technological advancement, with the goal of creating new ideas and eventually gaining benefit from its own products and proprietary results of research and development." (Lewis, 2007) "Goldwind is ensuring that it registers for patents for all newly developed products as soon as possible. It is also playing a watchdog role to ensure that other domestic companies do not attempt to register for similar patents." (Lewis, 2007)

AE Focus

Funding Sources

Most amazing information in AE

Denmark

General Information and Introduction

Walsh, B., 2008. How Denmark Sees the World in 2012. Time. Available at: [8] [Accessed May 1, 2009].

  • "Denmark is a world leader in wind energy, and produces more than 10% of its power from turbines."
  • "The homegrown wind company Vestas is a world leader earning $8 billion a year."
  • "Last year the government split its Environment Ministry in two. The original, now smaller, Ministry of the Environment was tasked with covering local pollution and wildlife issues, while the new Ministry of Climate and Energy was formed to focus specifically on global warming and alternative energy, with an eye toward preparing the way for Denmark's leadership on climate change"

2006. Renewable Energy: Recharging the American dream, available at: [9]

  • "In the past thirty years, Denmark has gone from being 99 percent dependent on sources of foreign oil to becoming completely energy independent. Since 1980, Denmark has had a 50% growth in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) while its energy use from oil and gas has flat lined."
  • "bio energy, not wind, is Denmark’s largest sustainable energy source - currently producing 70 percent of renewable energy consumption in Denmark."

2009. Danish Wind Energy Association. available at: [10]

  • We recommend:
  • Improved framework conditions for wind power in Denmark to maintain high tech knowledge based production and employment in Denmark.
  • Aggressive investments in publicly funded research and education to bring about the necessary lift from single turbine to power farms.
  • A new energy investment plan with ambitious targets for deployment of wind power, both on shore and off shore, to safeguard Danish and northern European energy security and supply.

Hudson, G., 2009. ‘Obama, Please Beat Us!’ on Renewable Energy, says Denmark," Posted in About Energy, In Europe and available at: [11]

  • "Currently, Denmark holds first place on renewable energy for some of the following reasons. In Denmark"
  • "They get 20-25% of electricity and heating from renewable energy, mostly biomass, biodegradable waste and wind."
  • "That will be 36% by 2025."

1991. Energy policy, available at: [12]

Douthwaite, M.B., 2002. Enabling innovation, available at: [13]

Gipe, P., 1995. Wind energy comes of age, available at: [14]

Smith, Z.A. & Taylor, K.D., 2008. Renewable and Alternative Energy Resources, available at: [15]

Stone, A. et al., 2008. Denmark, available at: [16]

Douthwaite, M.B., 2002. Enabling innovation,available at: [17]

Bolinger, M., 2001. Community wind power ownership schemes in Europe and their relevance to the United States, Available at: [18] [Accessed May 1, 2009].

Marier, D., 1988. Denmark's evolving wind strategy,

AE Capacity or Output

How much AE impacts in GIP

Governmental Policies

Governmental Incentives and Funding Structure

Governmental Laboratories and Research Institutes

  • Riso National Laboratory For Sustainable Energy (Under the Danish Ministry of Information Technology and Research)
  • UpWind consortium
    • "The UpWind consortium, composed of 40 partners, brings together the most advanced European specialists of the wind industry. The findings of the project will be disseminated through a series of workshops."
    • UpWind, which is the largest EU- funded wind project ever, started on 1 March 2006 and will last for five years."

http://www.upwind.eu/default.aspx

Research focus

Policies related to technology transfer to market

Global Market Share

Most representative companies

Market Share

Patents (number and types)

AE Focus

Funding Sources

Most amazing information in AE

Germany

General Information and Introduction

"Renewable energy technologies have deployed rapidly in Germany since 1990 largely as a result of energy policies adopted by the German government and the European Union. For example, installed wind capacity has grown by more than 2000% since 1990, biomass by more than 500%, and solar photovoltaic installations by more than 15,000%. While the 1990 baseline for each of these technology areas was very low, the steady rise of renewable energy in Germany is noteworthy nonetheless."[19] Germany has set the bar in terms of use of alternative energy technology, and the amount of energy produced from this technology as a share of total electrical output. In 2007, 14.2% of Germany’s electricity supply was from renewable sources. Wind power led the way, producing 39,500 GWh that year, which was 6.4% of Germany’s electricity consumption, almost half of the 14.2% total. Germany is the world leader in solar energy capacity and second to the US in wind energy capacity, with approximately 1.2 GW and 23 GW of installed capacity, respectively. In 2007, Germany’s overall avoided emissions of CO2 were approximately 127 million tons. These positive developments were enabled by the German government’s consistent support of its alternative energy subsidy program, the Feed-in Tariff, since its inception in 1990. (Bohme and Durrschmidt 2008)

AE Capacity or Output

  • Germany produced a total of 87,450 GWh of alternative electricity in 2007 (14.2% of the total electricity supply). The technologies that produced this energy are as follows:
    • Wind - 39,500 GWh
    • Hydropower - 20,700 GWh
    • Biomass - 14,230 GWh
    • Bio/sewage/landfill gas - 9,520 GWHh
    • Solar PV - 3,500 GWh
    • Geothermal - 0.4 GWh
    • Tidal/Wave - n/a

(Bohme and Durrschmidt 2008, 12)

How much AE impacts in GIP

Governmental Policies

Germany's main alternative energy support policy is a Feed-in Tariff (FIT). This policy supports alternative energy by offering competitive fixed prices in long-term contracts for electricity from wind, solar, geothermal, biomass, hydropower, and biogas. The contracts are made with alternative energy producers, which is anybody who owns a facility operating the technologies listed above and feeding into the electrical transmission grid. There is no cap on the number of contracts that can be awarded each year for the eligible technologies. The German FIT contracts are set for 20 years. This allows development of alternative energy plants to move forward with guarantees of:

  • A competitive price
  • A long-term contract
  • Interconnection to the electricity grid at no cost to the developer
  • The utility’s purchase of all electricity that the renewable power plant produces


The FIT policy creates a market for the alternative energy technologies by making it profitable for individuals, communities and developers to invest in alternative energy projects. The policy does not invest directly in R&D for these technologies, but encourages competition between the companies that produce the technology to make cheaper and more efficient products.

  • "The accelerated deployment of renewable energy technologies in Germany has paralleled a sharp decline in investment in energy research and development by the German government prompting concerns that early deployment of renewable techologies may come at the expense of future generation of energy technologies. While renewable energy is likely to make further gains in Germany and throughout Europe in the near- to mid-term, domestic growth of renewable energy may be slowed in the longer term by political pressures and technological limitations." (Runci 2005, 1)
  • Government support for R&D has fallen 76% since 1981, mostly due to the massive reduction in nuclear energy R&D. Germany has pledged to phase out all nuclear energy by 2020. (Runci 2005, 4)
  • Resources devoted to policies that favor technology deployment exceed alternative energy R&D by more than 400% at this time. (Runci 2005, 11)
  • Germany's heavy reliance on renewable energy technology deployment policies (Feed-in Tariffs) has meant that the policies favor the more commercially viable technologies. (Runci 2005, 9)

Governmental Incentives and Funding Structure

"Germany has gradually increased the emphasis on renewable energy deployment programs (the FIT) in its energy and technology policy portfolio. Increasingly, governments have shifted their attention from basic and applied research programs since the early 1990s and devoted more resources to deployment incentive programs. While this application-oriented shift in emphasis has resulted in the more rapid growth of renewable energy industries and in the commercial deployment of many existing renewable energy technologies, these gains may be purchased at the expense of longer-term R&D programs. Government expenditures for renewable energy market conditioning and deployment incentives exceeded total government energy R&D expenditures by more than 200% in 2002."[20]
"While the evolution of the German approach demonstrates a clear trend toward deployment-based activities, there is little evidence on the implications of this focus on technological advance. Since the advance of renewable energy technologies is a function of many variables, including spillovers from the private sector and from R&D programs in other countries, research efforts have not yet established the relative significance of individual factors for technological advance." Ibid.

Governmental Laboratories and Research Institutes

  • DLR - The German Aerospace Center
    • "The goals of energy research at DLR are to further develop solar-thermal power-plant technologies through to the market introduction phase, make low- and high-temperature fuel cells usable, particularly for generating electricity, and to research and develop high-efficiency gas and steam turbine power plants." [21]
  • EUREC Agency - European Renewable Energy Centres Agency
    • "Our 43 members are prominent research and development (R&D) groups spread across Europe, operating in all renewable energy technologies (wind, biomass, small hydro, marine, geothermal, photovoltaics, solar thermal electricity, solar thermal heating and cooling and solar buildings). Our members also conduct research into supporting technologies such as energy efficiency, storage, distribution and integration, while others study the social and economic aspects surrounding renewable energy."[22]
    • creates strong links with the renewable energy industry, fostering contacts and cooperation between members and their counterparts in the industry. These links contribute to define comprehensive R&D strategies, and should facilitate innovation and technology transfer through the promotion of R&D results.
    • EUREC's ProRETT program:
      • "The ProRETT project proposes an innovative and structured methodology for quicker and larger exploitation of existing scientific RTD results in the fields of renewable energy and energy efficiency in the form of licensing and spin-off creation in Europe."[23]

Research focus

Policies related to technology transfer to market

Global Market Share

By 2010, German alternative energy technology manufacturers are predicted to have a world market share of 4% - 5%. This is predominantly wind and solar technology companies, more so than other technologies. Ibid.

  • In 2006, 4 German wind turbine manufacturers accounted for ~29% of the wind market globally.
  • Germany is the #1 market for solar technology with 2,530 MW of installed capacity (Weiss & Bonvillian 2009, 67)
  • German solar companies are planning on investing over 2.6 billion euros by 2010 in the technologies
  • Germany lags behind other industrialized countries, like the US and Denmark, as an exporter of alternative energy technologies. [24]

Most representative companies

Market Share

German Wind Turbine Manufacturers in 2006

  • Enercon 15.4% - #4 globally
  • Siemens 7.3% - #6 globally
  • Nordex 3% - #7 globally
  • Repower 3% - #8 globally

Germany's Solar Technology Manufacturers:

  • Q-Cells -#1

Patents (number and types)

AE Focus

Funding Sources

Most amazing information in AE

Spain

General Information and Introduction

Spain is a close second to Germany in its adoption of alternative energy, and a great deal of that development can be attributed to its Feed-in Tariff (FIT), which, similar to Germany's, encourages rapid adoption of alternative energy technologies by guaranteeing a premium or fixed price in a 20 year contract for the electricity produced. Spain differs from Germany in that it offers two options for the FIT price. The premium price is set at the yearly average market price for electricity with an additional premium added on top. This premium guarantees a positive return on investment for the entity who pays for the new alternative energy plant. The other option is a fixed price like Germany's that guarantees the same price, set based on the per kWh cost of generation for that type of alternative energy technology, for 20 years.

AE Capacity or Output

While Germany still holds the top spot globally in terms of total installed solar PV capacity, as of 2008 Spain leads the world in added solar PV capacity at 1.7 million kW. Germany is in second place with 1.5 Million kW added, the US is a distant third with 300,000 kW added and Japan holds the fourth spot with 240,000 kW added. "The big difference between the top two countries and the U.S. and Japan appears to be public policy. In Germany and Spain, power companies are required to make long term purchases of renewable energy at uniform prices. Although similar requirements exist in the U.S. and Japan, they are so small that they lead to policy failure, which in turn prompts legislators to be apprehensive when it comes to strengthening those policies."[25]
Spain holds the third spot globally for installed wind power capacity at 16,740 MW by the end of 2008.[26] Only the US and Germany have more installed wind capacity. The total output of Spain's wind turbines that year was 31,400 GWh.

How much AE impacts in GIP

Governmental Policies

"The procedure developed by the Spanish Government to promote, not only solar heating and cooling activities, but the whole spectrum of renewable energies is the Program for Promotion of Renewable Energies 2005-2010 (PPER or PFER in Spanish). Revised version of PFER 2000-2010, the strategic target of PFER is to achieve by 2010 a 12% of primary energy consumption by renewables, through a joint combination of subsidies, tax exemptions and feed-in-tariffs for electricity production."[27]

Governmental Incentives and Funding Structure

Spanish alternative energy R&D programs:
"The National Plan for Research, Development and Innovation is the Spanish mechanism to establish the objectives and priorities on research, development and innovation (R&D&I) as well as to design the necessary tools that guarantee their achievement in the short and medium-term. While in past years the corresponding Plans were based on thematic subjects, this time the National Plan R&D&I 2008-2012 is based on the definition of model instruments to reach the strategic objectives fixed by the National Strategy for Science and Tecnology (ENCYT, Estrategía Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología). Between the available instruments, the Projects for Applied Research and the Projects for Experimental Development may be applied to sectors like: Energy and Climate Change, which includes development of distributed power generation, transmission, storage and active distribution and off-shore wind energy plants Nanotechnology, New Materials and new Industrial processes, which includes materials and coatings with special optical, electric and magnetic features and advanced materials for the absorption of energy (acoustic, thermal, electromagnetic, etc.)"[28]

  • Projects for Applied Research: 22 M€ in subsidies and 132 M€ in loans
  • Projects for Experimental Development: around 31 M€ in subsidies and around 294 M€ in loans Ibid.

Governmental Laboratories and Research Institutes

IDEA [29] - The Instituto para la Diversificación y Ahorro de la Energía (Institute for Diversification and Saving of Energy)

  • a state-owned business entity that reports to the Ministry of Industry, Tourism and Trade through the General Secretariat for Energy.
  • In charge of: Royal Decree 2/2007, 21 January 2003, amending Royal Decree 1432/2003, 21 November 2003, regulating the issuing of report on the fulfilment of the scientific and technological requirements, for the purposes of applying and interpreting tax deductions for research, development and technological innovation projects.

Research focus

Policies related to technology transfer to market

Global Market Share

In 2006 Spain manufactured 132.3 MW of solar PV, which is 1% - 2% of the world manufacturing capacity. [30]

Most representative companies

  • Gamesa - Wind
  • Acciona - Wind
  • Abengoa - Solar
  • Iberdrola - Wind

Market Share

Patents (number and types)

AE Focus

Funding Sources

Most amazing information in AE

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