German renewable sector aims to triple market share

FRANKFURT Jan 28 (Reuters) - Germany's renewable energy sector aims to triple its share of power generation to 47 percent by 2020, the BEE industry association said on Wednesday.

Its share stood at 15.1 percent in 2008, largely because of state subsidies.

Energy industry associations are jostling for position ahead of general elections in September. The composition of the next government will shape future support for the industry.

BEE President Dietmar Schuetz said that provided the right political decisions were made, his sector could provide a reliable 278 terawatt hours (TWh) of electricity in 2020 compared with 93 TWh in 2008.

"Energy from wind, biomass, hydro, solar and geothermal sources will be the overriding element of our power supply," he said in a statement issued ahead of a Berlin news conference.

"We will be turning power production upside down. Conventional power plants will complement the supply only on request. Fuel imports and carbon dioxide emissions will be cut."

The sector's optimism is in contrast to fears of thermal power station lobbies.

The latter have warned of power supply gaps if coal-fired and nuclear generation plants run into conflict with costly political demands to cut CO2 emissions or as in the case of nuclear plants to shut them permanently.

They have also highlighted the need to cut Germany's dependency on imported gas.

The BEE said reliable green power supply was already possible as the plants were flexible enough.

BEE board member Ralf Bischof said there were already 10 Gigawatt (GW) of pumped storage plants on standby as well as 9 GW of biogas and wood-based plants.

These could, at times of unexpected supply cuts and peak demand, already provide emergency power at the touch of a button, he said.

Analysts say all this hinges on the continuation of subsidies, which have been securing high prices and mandatory usage of renewables and therefore spurred the sector's growth.

The BEE strategy also depends on the development of novel load management facilities and power storage as well as a wider sharing of hydroelectricity across Europe, which would involve bigger grids to move power volumes around.

For a table showing the contribution of renewables to power generation in 2008 please click on [ID:nLR262447] (Reporting by Vera Eckert)