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EUROSOLAR Our Work __________________ EUROSOLAR was not the first membership-based, renewable energy organization in 1988. But it had two entirely new characteristics, both nationally and internationally: EUROSOLAR was the first organization, which, from the very beginning, ? Aimed at all forms of renewable energy, considering them the integrated and comprehensive alternatives to nuclear energy and fossil fuels ? Was set up with political aspirations far beyond the narrow view of sector programs and energy policies. The day EUROSOLAR was founded Hermann Scheer said: “We watch with growing concern the widening contradiction between, on the one hand, complex issues which are intensifying and expanding internationally and, on the other hand, the lessening capability of political institutions. We are trailing behind more acute dangers at a snail’s pace. We have to deal with the preservation and restoration of the natural base on which life depends. We are confronted by challenges which we cannot even begin to tackle with heretofore conventional approaches.” To view nuclear energy and fossil fuels as indispensable and irreplaceable for the supply of energy was identified as the defining threat to society. The “momentous and visionary goal of the Age of Solar Energy” was identified as the key solution to responding to that. To “spur” renewable energy sources, the necessity of having policies focused on renewable energy in place was emphasized, as was the need to have policies focused on the same in the research and development, finance, business, environment, agriculture and transport sectors - at the local, state, national, European and foreign levels. In particular, “third world” countries and renewable energy should be a focus of foreign policy. The move to renewable energy must be understood “as a political priority which cuts across all divisions.” So, EUROSOLAR’s first 25 years have emerged as 25 years dedicated to a wide range of solar energy policies. EUROSOLAR inspired, showed and helped preparing the ground for many practical solutions. When renewable energy was discussed in the 1980s the focus was on the technological dimension almost exclusively. Thanks to the work of EUROSOLAR political strategies were developed that would more and more enter party and government programs. EUROSOLAR’s most significant actual accomplishment is in the politicization of the topic and in having built public awareness of renewable energy as a holistic choice over fossil and nuclear-based energy supply. At the time EUROSOLAR was founded it was deemed presumptuous to assign high value to renewable energy. At the end of the 1980s, energy policy and the energy sector either deeply underrated or even completely ignored the potential offered by renewable energy. Social Democrats and Green politicians, too, thought renewable energy would not be able to account for more than 5 % in energy supply. BUND representatives stressed, unless all possibilities for saving energy and using energy efficiently were fully exploited there was no way of thinking about renewable energy use. Solar scientists considered a share of 10 % of renewable energy by 2050 a huge success. A lot of false information perpetuated about the inability of renewable energy to deliver all our energy needs. Statements by the energy industry – such as “owed to physical reasons” wind energy would not ever be able to provide more than 1.5 % added to this. All these things have changed, but not by themselves – and it is hard to imagine how they would have changed absent EUROSOLAR’s efforts. Our activities centered on 2 ? Informing and educating the public on the full range of renewable energy possibilities ? Developing political action programs spanning the local and international levels ? Organizing conferences, discussing and combining technological, economic and political issues and thus building a broad renewable energy leadership and actors base. They required perseverance, creativity and the willingness and ability to address and withstand conflicts. Just describing the full potential for energy generation from renewable resources used to create conflicts, because it was whisked off, deemed naïve, irrational or dubious. These views, however, persist at “higher” levels to this day: It is still mostly the case – at least in the short term – that the expansion of renewable energy is credited little more than before it had succeeded against all resistance. Absolute independence, politically and financially, is another essential factor of EUROSOLAR’s work: i.e. being independent of political parties, of governments and of companies, even those in the renewable energy sector. EUROSOLAR does not want to act as an economic interest group (professional associations exist for the entire renewable energy business sector by now). Inevitably, a growing renewable energy industry, too, will not be conflict-free. But EUROSOLAR’s idealistic, not-for-profit work for the common good must continue intact. It is the only way to create and maintain the credibility and intellectual authority to achieve its objectives. EUROSOLAR is not a special interest “lobbyist”. The move to renewable energy is a demand of the whole society, indeed of the global civilization. EUROSOLAR was founded on the principles of human ethics: all people must have permanent access to healthy, environmentally and climate friendly energy, without dependence on the monopolies of energy producing countries and oil and gas companies. Members and their fees ensure EUROSOLAR’s independence. They include natural and juridical persons. EUROSOLAR finances itself mostly by membership dues, conference registration fees and –to a lesser extent – by donations. Some of the conferences enjoyed co-support by the EU commission, the federal government or state governments. VRD Stiftung für Erneuerbare Energien (VRD Foundation for Renewable Energy) supports EUROSOLAR in making donations regularly. The KfW development bank supported EUROSOLAR as a partner in the European Solar Prize annual awards program over the past 15 years. The non-financial equivalent to this engagement has been the commitment of many volunteers, including, but not limited to, EUROSOLAR’s executive committee members who, without exception, engage in our activity without pay and of course a small team of core staff, whose work often exceeds regular working hours. Although a quantitative analysis can illustrate how much EUROSOLAR has accomplished over the past 25 years thanks to organizational capabilities and shared commitment, the quality of what has been achieved is immeasurable and exceeds quantity by far. Our purpose was and is to advance developments and to get concepts off the ground to evolve and multiply in their own way. Between 1988 and 2013, EUROSOLAR set up over 250 conferences, symposia and seminars in Germany alone, among them were many international events – not counting those organized by EURSOLAR’s national sections in Austria, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Luxembourg, Russia, Spain, Turkey and Ukraine. Major conferences Forward thinking, EUROSOLAR dealt with all forms of renewable energy in many conferences and aimed at the groundwork of action programs for all political levels. Conferences included: ? At the international level: “Renewable Energy in India” (New Delhi, 1990), “Renewable Energy in Africa” (Harare 1991) and “Renewable Energy in China” (Beijing, 1992), each of them being the first in their geographical regions. Together with UNESCO we organized conferences such 3 as “The Sun in the Service of Mankind” in Paris 1993, and the first two international conferences that addressed the question of financing renewable energy. They were held in Bonn in 1997 and 1998 and emulated by many others. “From EURATOM to EURENEW” was held in 2001, followed by the international conference “Global renewable energy transfer” in Berlin in 2002. The “World Renewable Energy Assembly” was staged in Bonn in 2004, 2005, 2007 to present and further develop global renewable energy strategies and action plans. ? EUROSOLAR’s symposia on energy law stand out at the national level. They deal with increasingly important legal questions concerning renewable energy systematically and in the context of draft legislation. The conferences “Green electricity market” held in 1998 and 1999 were instrumental in getting the German eco power market off the ground. In 1996, during a conference dedicated to exploring the potential for solar power in Germany, EUROSOLAR took on to demonstrate for the first time that an entirely renewable energy-based energy supply will be possible. ? EUROSOLAR drafted the program Kommunale Solar-Energie-Initiative – KSI (a policy option at the local level for a “Solar Power Community Initiative”), as early as 1994. It provided the basis for the Europäische Konferenz Erneuerbare Energien für Städte und Regionen (the European Renewable Energy Conference for Towns and Regions). Additionally, EUROSOLAR has been organizing the annual conference series “Stadtwerke mit Erneuerbaren Energien“ (municipal utilities employing renewable energy) since 2006. In collaboration with energy utility company “Stadtwerke Aachen”, EUROSOLAR organized three editions of the “Anwenderforum für Bioenergie” (user forum for bio energy). ? Architecture, planning and urban design: In 1992, EUROSOLAR hosted the symposium “Das solare Regierungsviertel” (the solar-powered government quarter) in Berlin, which later inspired the exemplary use of solar power in newly built parliamentary and government buildings. Practical cases were portrayed in the conference “Solares Regierungsviertel”, which was being held concurrently with the World Congress of Architecture in 2002. By the series of conferences “Solar Energy in Architecture and Urban Planning”, started in Berlin in 1996, (continued in Bonn 1998 and 2000 and Berlin 2008) EUROSOLAR broke fresh ground in solar constructing, offering new perspectives to many architects. ? Bio energy: To explore new prospects for agriculture, EUROSOLAR organized the “Earth Conference on Biomass” in Havanna/Cuba in 1996. 1999 marked the start of the annual conferences “Der Landwirt als Energie- und Rohstoffwirt” (farmers as energy producers and resource suppliers), dealing with the options for bio energy. Focus areas: sustainable cultivation and agriculture and information about continuously progressing developments. ? EUROSOLAR is the architect of the annual International Renewable Energy Storage Conference (IRES), the world’s leading conference on this issue since 2006. Political impetus and campaigns While its conferences created general impact by giving political, economic and technical impetus EUROSOLAR also provided direct political impetus to political party programs and draft legislation, by for example, ? EUROSOLAR’s guidelines for state and local governments which were fully or partially included in political party platforms ? The program “Solar Europe”, essential parts of which are reflected in the EU commission’s White Paper of 1997 for a Community Strategy and Action Plan Energy for the future: 4 Renewable Sources of Energy, as well as in several resolutions of the European Parliament which in turn influenced the EU directive on renewable energy of 2001. ? The research and development program for solar power and hydrogen. Proposed by EUROSOLAR, it became subject to a decision by the German parliament in 1989. In this way it was instrumental in the passage of the 1,000 solar-roof program [under which individuals received subsidies by the government to cover the costs of installing a PV rooftop system] and the 250 MW wind program. Both programs were the first initiatives at federal government level in support of the market entry for solar PV and wind power. ? The German government’s 100,000 solar-roof program, developed by EUROSOLAR, entered into force in 1999. It was a landmark achievement as it signaled the worldwide start of the mass production of solar PV. ? EUROSOLAR initiatives helped shape the electricity feed-in law of 1990 and the Renewable Energy Sources Act (EEG) of 2000. EUROSOLAR also laid the groundwork for the 1996 amendment of the national building code of Germany with preferential treatment for renewable energy on all exterior building components, the national renewable energy export initiative launched by the German federal government in 2000 and legislation on tax exemption for biofuels in 2003. ? EUROSOLAR also was a major contributor to the EU studies “Power for the World” and “PV for Developing Countries” developed in the mid-1990s, which inspired the decision for a task force on renewable energy at the 2001 G8 summit. EUROSOLAR has influenced political attitudes and public opinion by print advertisements and renewals in big national weekly and daily newspapers over many years (appearing in DIE ZEIT, Süddeutsche Zeitung, Frankfurter Rundschau, Tagesspiegel, tageszeitung, Die Welt, Financial Times Deutschland). These advertisements placed emphasis on energy issues and the significance of renewable energy in solving them. They also created high visibility of the political requirements. They were signed and financially by many citizens: posts (titles translated from German) included print advertisements on: ? The “Strategic Energy Initiative” (SEI), in the run-up to the general election in Germany, 1994 ? “Solar Germany”, in the run-up to the general election in Germany, 1998 ? “Model Solar Germany”, in the run-up to the general election in Germany, 2002 ? “Getting off oil”, with reference to the war with Iraq in 2002 ? “Peace through solar not war for oil”, after the start of the war in Iraq in 2003 ? “Germany is renewable”, prior to the EEG reforms of 2003 ? “Germany continues on the renewable path”, in the run-up to the general election in Germany 2005 ? “Renewable energy not nuclear energy”, 20th anniversary of nuclear disaster at the Chernobyl power plant ? “Courage to stand for renewable energy”, 2007 ? “Germany must continue on the renewable path”, 2008 ? “Powered by the sun”, 2010 ? “A bridge to renewable energy is not needed”, 2010 (renewed after the Fukushima nuclear disaster) against the background of debate over phasing out nuclear power and against the extended use of nuclear power ? “There will be no energy turnaround without renewable energy”, 2012 ? “The energy turnaround will only be cost effective with renewable energy” placed in an effort to counter attempts to undermine EEG legislation in 2013. 5 A total number of 22,000 people actively supported the print ads and helped making political progress on the path into the solar age. Since 2002, EUROSOLAR has intensified its international activities, not least by forming and establishing the registered offices of its global arm, the World Council for Renewable Energy (WCRE) in 2001. In 2002, EUROSOLAR and WCRE made the proposal of hosting a conference of international governments for renewable energy. German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder backed the idea and invited UN governments to Germany at the Johannesburg World Summit on Sustainable Development. “Renewables 2004” was the first in the series of “renewables” conferences, started in Bonn in 2004 and followed by “BIREC” - the Beijing International Renewable Energy Conference in 2005 and by WIREC, the Washington International Renewable Energy Conference in 2008. To have a counterbalance in place to both, the International Atomic Energy Agency and the International Renewable Energy Agency, EUROSOLAR’s most longstanding and intensive campaigning effort at the international level was the commitment to create an International Renewable Energy Agency – IRENA. EUROSOLAR first submitted the idea of IRENA to the UN in a memorandum in 1989. It wasn’t taken into consideration for a long time. No government was willing to promote the agency because resistance was too strong. But EUROSOLAR continued insisting. In 2002, the initiative was successfully integrated into the government program of Germany’s red/green coalition. But it didn’t enter into force. In 2005, EUROSOLAR succeeded again in having IRENA included in the coalition agreement of the Social Democrats (SPD) and the Christian Democratic Union /Christian Social Union (CDU/CSU). In 2007, the federal government started preparations for its establishment at an international level. IRENA was officially founded in Bonn on 26 January 2009. 75 nations signed the agency’s statute. June 29, 2009, the general assembly of IRENA held in Sharm-el-Sheik, Egypt, meanwhile counting 136 member countries, voted for Abu Dhabi (United Arab Emirates) as the place for its registered office. EUROSOLAR’s successful initiative is set out in the chronology “The Long Road To IRENA”. Publications Various EUROSOLAR publications are available. Information on each of the above-mentioned conferences can be accessed in reprints, books or on CD-ROM. All of them together mirror the history of renewable energy and show the pioneering, multidimensional requirements for a renewable energy breakthrough. EUROSOLAR’s most important publication is the quarterly “Solarzeitalter”. It examines the political, economic and cultural aspects of renewable energy and reveals the conflicts arising in connection with renewable energy. EUROSOLAR also initiated the launch of the journal “Zeitschrift für Neues Energierecht” (ZNER - Journal for New Energy Law), appearing since 1997. It has emerged as the leading legal publication concerning energy and strongly influenced the development of a legal culture. Without ZNER, many court decisions in favor of renewable energy would have turned out differently. European and National Solar Prizes EUROSOLAR’s annual European Solar Prize has been given since 1994 on the basis of recipients selected and awarded with the Solar Prize in the countries of national EUROSOLAR sections. In the first years of the awards program we solicited entries for the Solar Prize in collaboration with the EU commission, followed until 2013, by the KfW development bank. KfW ranges even before the World 6 Bank and has become the world’s biggest provider of loans in support of renewable energy over the past years. The Solar Prize honors achievements in different subject categories: towns and municipalities, council districts, municipal utilities, local or regional associations, companies, solar constructing, transport and mobility, education and (vocational) training, one world cooperation and special achievements of individuals. 2013 marked the twentieth anniversary of the Solar Prize. Over the past two decades, 190 prizewinners were chosen from around 3,500 proposals submitted alone in Europe. Solar constructing ranges first in expressing and reflecting major changes. Initially, the Solar Prize was given only for 100 % renewable energy powered buildings. In the early stages they were a rarity. Today, these projects abound. Meanwhile, the Prize has become an architecture award, which honors aesthetics and design excellence as well. The constructors/initiators (Bauherren) are honored with plaques. Our Results and Next Steps All in all, EUROSOLAR’s work is of singular value. Much has been accomplished; many things have been spurred on, despite relatively few financial resources and organizational capacity. As it turns out an idea can spread, make its way and prove more powerful than seemingly overwhelming opposing forces - even if not all strengths could be mobilized - when it represents a superior social value, lays out and offers the prospects for a solution to an apparently unsolvable problem with visionary thinking and is pushed to a practical level for implementation. Many people, particularly in Germany, are under the impression that renewable energy has won the race and will succeed under its own steam. The “critical mass” achieved by the job creation among constructors and operators are presented as evidence for that. Don’t the acknowledgements of the power companies, which have been appearing in colorful advertisements in newspapers everywhere, suggest precisely the same? This is deceptive. There is no question that the time will come when people will exclusively rely on renewable energy everywhere on the globe. But the central questions are: When will this be? How will the world then be? Will it be early enough to fend off ecological, economic, social and hence political disasters never seen before? Acceleration or delay, which choices will be made? Who is blocking action and why and who must be the active supporters to involve? There is no end to the debate it is only just beginning. This is why EUROSOLAR continues to be necessary in light of the sociopolitical context of the move to renewable energy. A Chronology of EUROSOLAR’s 25 years The new publication "25 Jahre EUROSOLAR – Von der Initiative zum Vorreiter, Von der Vision zur Praxis" (25 Years of EUROSOLAR: From Seizing the Initiative to Being a Pioneer From Vision to Practice) provides a detailed portrait of EUROSOLAR's history: the path leading up to its founding, first activities and first successes, the development from the electricity feed-in law to the renewable energy sources act (EEG). The chronology further sets out the different responsibilities arising after the EEG was introduced in 2000, which marked a new stage for renewable energy and hence EUROSOLAR. It concludes by portraying the latest developments in the evolution to the transformed energy system post Fukushima. EUROSOLAR’s activities are presented in the context of energy policy and evidence the successes of untiring commitment to a decentralized, entirely renewable energy-based supply of energy “25 Jahre EUROSOLAR – Von der Initiative zum Vorreiter, Von der Vision zur Praxis" ((25 Years of EUROSOLAR: From Seizing the Initiative to Being a Pioneer From Vision to Practice), August 2013, 120 pages, German. 7 The chronology is available in digital format from www.eurosolar.de/de. The print copy is free to all members upon request.