The old thinking that renewables are too expensive is history – Hans-Joseph Fell

Berlin: According to Hans-Joseph Fell, the prominent German politician and internationally recognized energy expert, countries in the region of Eastern Europe Caucasus and Central Asia could strengthen their economies and achieve long-term development by creating a secure environment for investments in renewable energy. He shared his observations and prognosis for regional markets with Front News in an exclusive interview.

 

FNI: Do you consider Eastern Europe Caucasus and Central Asia as a perspective region for major investments in renewable energy?

 

H-J Fell: At the moment outlook for development of renewables in Eastern Europe Caucasus and Central Asia is not so good. We have many obstacles in this region because of situation when most politicians still believe in oil, gas, coal and nuclear and so these countries don’t run as fast as many parts of the world run into renewable energies. Latin America, China, South-East Asia, Africa and even USA invest heavily in renewable energy. We must recognize the current situation that renewables are already a cheapest option for new power generation capacity. In parallel, because of the fact that oil and gas prices are dropping, the companies in the old system (centralized electricity generation at big coal, gas and nuclear power plants – FNI) do not earn money. I fear that they will go bankrupt and the finance industry, major investors will go out of financing them and divest from fossil fuels and nuclear and this is a disruptive situation.

 

FNI: What are the main obstacles for renewable energy in our countries?

 

H-J Fell: I know a lot of people, who look at Eastern Europe, Central Asia and Caucasus region for business in renewables and they want to create it, but first the governments must learn the lesson that major investment in renewables is the only option to save the economy by the whole. Falling oil price is damaging the economy in Kazakhstan, in Azerbaijan and in Russia the most, where we see the pressure on the public budget. Governments need to recognize that renewable energy is the only option to come out of current crisis.

 

FNI: Why you believe that renewable energy is the only option?

 

H-J Fell: We had a study done by Energy Watch Group and Lappeenranta University in Finland on the future prospects of Ukraine’s electricity sector until 2050. And it concluded, that transition to renewable energy is the only option to have decrease in electricity prices from current 90 Euro per MWh to 50 MWh. And we see similar conclusions in studies for Kazakhstan and other countries. The old thinking that renewables are too expensive and can become a burden for the economy is history. In today’s reality and for the future renewables are the best option to develop economy, to bring energy security and as well climate protection.

 

FNI: And what about German renewable energy industries, are they interested in this region?

 

H-J Fell: Projects in this region can become very interesting for German manufacturers of equipment. We have the technology and many companies want to provide their renewable energy solutions to these countries. But yet we don’t have the financial basis. The technology providers are ready to do it, but the gap is how to finance it, how to attract investors in these countries.

 

FNI: How private investors in EECA region can be encouraged and attracted to renewable energy projects?

 

H-J Fell: We need more financial security, we need more support from the public banks like EBRD, like KfW and others to bring initial investments to make the whole sector bankable and attract private money.

 

FNI: What can be done at the state level?

 

H-J Fell: We need national governments working together with European government to bring in the financing scheme, that would support new development and make private investments secure. Then it will attract money and the money will flow into the economy. In turn, increased private investments in such countries will lead to economic revival, create new jobs and the society as whole will benefit.

 

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Hans-Josef Fell is broadly known in the world as one of the most successful promoters of renewable energy. Since 1998 until 2013 he was a member of the German Parliamentary Group Alliance 90/ the Greens, leading advocacy and development of policies to support renewable energy. Together with Hermann Scheer, in the year 2000 he drafted the Renewable Energy Sources Act, which established the foundation for the technology developments in photovoltaic, biogas, wind power and geothermal energy in Germany. Fell is founder and president of the Energy Watch Group and an internationally renowned energy and climate change advisor, author and speaker.

 

On June 27th he participated the first German-Ukrainian energy symposium, which attracted more than hundred experts, business representatives and officials from Ukraine and Germany, which discussed potential of renewable energy sources in Ukraine and its role for strengthening the energy security in Ukraine and Europe as a whole.

 

Renewable energy generates more than a third of electricity in Germany, and all nuclear power plants are planned to be closed before 2022. At the same time, the cost of handling nuclear waste from German nuclear power plants was estimated at 24 billion euros. In Switzerland, as a result of the referendum that took place in May, an energy strategy was adopted, that envisages gradual phase-out of nuclear power and transition to 100% of energy from renewable sources by 2050.