Speech of Dr. Hermann Scheer, President of EUROSOLAR, opening session of the 17th European Solar Energy Conference and Exhibition, Munich, October 22th - 26th, 2001

How is the global state of introduction of Renewable Energies including PV Solar Energy Conversion? What describes the energy dangers of mankind in our times?  The nuclear/ fossil energy economy dominates the global energy markets. It increasingly creates international conflicts because of the exhaustion of primary energy resources. Terrorist or military attacks against power stations and long power lines increase the vulnerability of societies. Conventional energies do harm to the health of people. This was shown recently by the magazine "Science", which predicted hundred thousands of deaths by fossil fuel emissions in the big cities. The conventional energies restrict the economies, mainly of the developing countries: most African states nowadays spend between 50 and 100 % of their total export income for the import of oil.

But nevertheless global energy pollution increased in the 90ies about 30 %. The global acceleration of energy consumption is faster than the introduction of Renewable Energies. More and more people know: Renewable Energies are a real hope, remarkable technological progress happened. Governments speak about Renewable Energies, but the lack of ambitious policies continues in most cases. They don’t know what they know.

Most industries are missing the opportunity to integrate Renewable Energies into their products, mainly in the sector of energy consuming devices. In the field of energy consumption our societies are living below their real opportunities.

The summary of this can be formulated in one satirical sentence: "Most people start too early in their lives to begin doing the most important things too late."

Even the Kyoto- Protocol in its Bonn Agreement from July this year will not create a real progress towards the reduction of energy pollution and towards promoting Renewable Energies. The reduction of 2 % until 2012 - only within the industrialized countries and without the United States - is a very poor result.

It can’t do anything against the fact that in 2012 there will be 10 % more than today. The Clean Development Mechanism refer rather to energy efficiency of large conventional power stations, because it will create a lot of bureaucratic problems to calculate every small PV device in the villages of developing countries. The origin of the unsatisfactory agreement was one wrong premise of the World Climate Conferences: The transformation of the Global Energy system was considered to be an economic burden rather than a unique new economic opportunity. Moreover: Fossil Energies were considered to be indispensable, because the real potential of Renewable Energies is still underestimated. Up to now the economic costs of Renewable Energies are not satisfactorily calculated – this holds true not only for the costs of pollution, but also for the expenses for public energy subsidies for atomic and fossil energies: annually they amount to 300 billion dollars. As a sharp contrast, the governments together did spend for Renewable Energies only 50 billion dollars - not in one year, but in 20 years.

Our main purpose is to encourage the governments and the industries to give absolute priority to Renewable Energies in their energy and environment strategies.

The main reason for this is to show: renewable energies have the natural, technological and economic potential to satisfy the entire energy needs of mankind. But the implementation requires in many cases to leave the conventional energy supplying infrastructure and methods.

The new energy chain leads

• from few large and concentrated to many small and decentralised energy suppliers including many opportunities for self-sufficiencies: therefore from few to many energy supporters and investors,
• from long energy to short energy supplying chains: that means from a global separation of the places of energy mining from the places of energy consumption to a regional coupling of energy harvesting and consumption, from imported energies to indigenous energies.

We have to overcome many mental barriers, created by the conventional ways of thinking about energy. The Renewable Energy community must overcome its inferiority complex in the face of the conventional energy suppliers. They shouldn’t behave like David facing Goliath or a beggar approaching the majesties of big energy polluters. They must overcome the prejudices of our time, which holds that solutions to important problems and imminent dangers must come by elaborate and complex technologies and important and sophisticated scientific experts. Friedrich Dürrenmatt wrote in his piece "The physicians": "The method of the physicians is their own job; their results are affecting everybody. What affects everybody can only be solved by all." That is the case of Renewable Energies, mainly by Photovoltaic Solar Energy Conversions. PV Technology is the most applicable energy technology. It is the only one that can be used everywhere, especially on a small scale.

Many people including PV experts try to copy the existing electric power supply structure. They discuss and calculate PV in the conventional ways by comparing the PV costs per Kilowatt hour peak with conventional power stations. They forget that a realistic economic comparison must be drawn not with single conversion technologies, but with comprehensive energy systems. Only 20% of the total sum on the consumers’ energy bills has to be paid for electric power production. 80% are system costs for the whole supplying structure, before and after the power production. The best way to reduce the costs for PV is to avoid these system costs of the conventional energy supply. Solar home systems in Developing Countries, which could be transferred in specific ways to industrial countries, take advantage of this circumstance.

40% of the electric power consumption is used by thousands of small electric devices. To render more and more of these techniques energy efficient is the most promising way for PV technology: integrated into buildings, into electrical equipment and microelectronic devices.

PV implementation requires a double track strategy: developing hundreds of thousands of self-sufficient techniques without grids and cables, and at the same time producing PV power for a distribution to the grids. Public attention and the awareness of politicians and the industry are focused primarily on the second track - the more conventional one. The policy promotion programs also refer to such applications. But this is a restricted view of the PV opportunities.

PV can go much further in the field of application where no other technology is able to compete. We have to stimulate the fantasy of engineers and producers:

• to find ways of integrating PV modules in all kinds of normal stand- by- devices.
• to integrate PV modules into mobile telephones or power books,
• to produce more and more PV- building materials,
• to produce air condition devices for the southern cities of the world that replace in a cheap and simple way the ugly and noisy generators - a tremendous market.

Public-supported research and development, PV experts in scientific institutes, PV-industries and the general industry have to make strong efforts to produce innovations in this field. 

The German legal frameworks, which were introduced since 1999, are issued to this second track: the 100.000- roof- program and the Renewable Energy Act. Since the 1st of April 2000, a minimum price for embedding PV-power into grid of 99 Pfennig (50 cents) for 20 years is guaranteed. This legislation was initiated by the Parliamentary Group of EUROSOLAR in the German Parliament with 60 Parliamentarians from the Social democrats and the Greens.

When we came together in Glasgow we started working on this legal framework. In 2001 we will have 70 MW of new PV installations, based on this legal framework. But it is not easy to continue down this road because this incentives’ promise of cutting the costs in short time is not being realized. You all know the main reason for this: the lack of large-scale production of solar grade silicium. My appeal in Glasgow to the PV-industry was to undertake common steps to overcome this problem. I want to repeat this appeal - otherwise the biggest legal step in the history of PV could become endangered. But there are some other barriers, which I define as cultural ones, mainly at the educational level. When the G 8- summit installed the task- force for Renewable Energies in the summer of 2000, the message was passed on that a program for the introduction of mall RET for 1 billion people in the world will be set up within 10 years. The program is formulated. The decision to implement it was not adopted.
But if it was adopted, we would have another problem: There are not enough educated and trained people to implement this, there is a lack of education and training.

Based on all these reasons we need - besides the message: 100% are possible for meeting the challenge of the century - some new international initiatives. These have to address the governments and the international community and mainly the "Rio plus ten"-conference in Johannesburg next year, reviewing the "Agenda 21". Renewable Energies require an organized and independent political voice in the global negotiations and proceedings for a sustainable future. This kind of future is only possible if we substitute atomic and fossil energies by renewable energies.

Because of this in June 2001 the World Council for Renewable Energy was founded in Berlin, headed by a Chairmen Committee with Ahmedou Ould Abdallah (Africa), Micael Eckhart (America), Rakesh Bakshi (Asia) and Peter Droege (Australia) as its members. I have the honour to act as the General Chairman.

We try to push, among others,

• the establishment of an International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) as a governmental agency like the IAEA agency. This agency shall organize the non-commercial know-how transfer and establish equal international acting policy instruments like those existing already for Atomic Energy. Its work shall focus on promoting training and education, including training of politicians.
• the immediate creation of global norms and standards for Renewable Energy Technologies, and the cancellation of existing trade barriers against RET within the WTO-negotiation process.
• to convince governments and development banks to change the development aid policies and to set a priority for Renewable Energies. Up to now 90% of all the energy credits of the development banks are given to conventional energies.
• to propose an amendment to the Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty of 1970, which obliges its member states to transfer Nuclear Energy Technologies. Since there doesn’t exist such obligation for Renewables, we propose a Solar Proliferation Treaty.

And because there can never be a sustainable future without a global zero-emission renewable energy basis, Renewable Energies must become Nr. 1 of the Agenda 21.

The World Council for Renewable Energies will stimulate the Renewable Energy Community to this end - with its hard core: the PV Community - to spread and mobilize the people and organizations committed in environment protection, development aid, agricultural development, in peace movements and human help - to convince and help them to integrate the renewable energy answer into their activities.

In 1953 US-President Eisenhower delivered his famous speech "Atoms for peace" to the UN General Assembly. This was the message for the 2nd half of the 20th century. The message for the 21st Century is "Solar for peace".

Whether an initiative becomes successful or not depends on the spirit of the people supporting it. The global spirit for Renewable Energies, the inspiration of our societies, doesn’t require the philosophy of inferiority of Renewables, but of their superiority.