Germany is likely to see an export payoff from an “extraordinary” US$1 trillion investment in clean energy, the chief economist of U.S. Underwriters’ Laboratory says.
Germany’s ‘Energiewende’ policy has so far cost the country an estimated $1 trillion to achieve the roughly 27% of its electricity it now derives from renewable sources, UL’s Erin Grossi told PV Tech. But Grossi says German engineers have told her that far more is not only possible, but will be good for the country’s export competitiveness.
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The “vast majority” of engineers and technical experts Grossi met with told her that 100% renewable was technically feasible, given advances in digital integration to “better control these distributed resources and make them responsible at grid scale, in the same way fossils have been.”
Meanwhile, companies like Siemens and ABB are active in exporting German clean energy technology. “It looks more like they were positioning these companies to get ahead in all of that R&D and technical work and know-how,” Grossi said, “so that they can bring new value to the country in the future.”
