Prof. Peter Droege, president of EUROSOLAR:
They were the soft and late effects of the oil crises of the 1970s, the finally successful efforts of Europe to introduce summer time and the time shift, based on a century of various attempts in both war and peace years. On 6 April 1980, most European countries, Germany ahead, adjusted their clocks to make working hours more synchronous with summer daylight. The first common summer time lasted from 6 April 1980, 1400 (CET) to 28 September 1980, 15:00 (CEST).
Today there are new discussions and efforts to reverse or change this, although certainly at least the PV-owners benefit a little from it. German Chancellor Angela Merkel recently tended to give priority to summer time all year round, an idea which is shared by some representatives of the renewable energy industry.