The Triumph of the Sun - The Energy of the New Century

The physicist, long-time EU Commission official and comrade-in-arms of Hermann Scheer has published his legacy. It is fascinating to read how the new renewable energies, i.e. photovoltaics, wind power, modern biomass and solar thermal energy have grown exponentially from small beginnings to the present day. Wolfgang Palz puts this development into context by providing hallmarks of earth's history and the achievements of physics, thereby proving his optimism that mankind will make the transition to a sustainable use of energy with facts and figures.

The leading role of Germany and the European Union in the industrialization of photovoltaics and wind power is scrutinised as well as their current relapse behind China, Japan, the USA and India. The redirection of the large-scale extractive industry of fossil and nuclear fuels to the phase-out level does not result from insight into mankind's limitations but from renewables having become more attractive financially. The European Union has played its part in this development, as did Wolfgang Palz, who was jointly responsible for the course taken for many years.

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On the occasion of the Bonn Climate Change Conference, June 17 - 27 2019, EUROSOLAR calls for a long overdue emergency response: The massive deployment of Decentralised Renewable Energy Systems. The most recent power outages in South America also show that the projections, goals and methods of both international conferences and national pathways are still entirely inadequate.

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REN21 is producing the first edition of a new report series: the Renewables in Cities Global Status Report will provide a platform to collaboratively map out the current trends and developments of renewable energy in cities, making the key role that cities play in advancing the energy transformation visible to policy makers and other stakeholders. At the moment, information on renewable energy in cities is dispersed and limited. By offering fact-based evidence and a supportive narrative, this publication will be a powerful tool for different types of stakeholders to inform (sub-) national regulatory frameworks, support city-level commitments and facilitate better multi-level integration to collectively shape the debate on cities in the energy transformation.

Please find the full report here.

The Marketmakers - Solar for the Hinterland of Bangladesh

A solar market is booming in the hinterland of Bangladesh: not in the megacity, Dhaka―but in village markets and bazars, in tribal hamlets in the Hill Tracts, on islands in the Brahmaputra River and in the fishing villages along the Bay of Bengal.  This is Bangladesh’s hinterland, where 70% of the population lives.  And in this respect Bangladesh is no different from other developing countries in Asia and Africa.

But here Bangladesh stands out: It is home to a thriving rural market for solar home systems―a market based on private enterprise, competition and innovation.  Within a decade, 50 rural enterprises were installing up to 65,000 solar home systems a month, creating thousands of village jobs and fueling the economy.

No doubt, rural business is tough.  How do you create demand for solar power given limited village household incomes and a technology no one has ever heard of?  And how do you ensure quality service to remote households scattered across a river delta?  Many see the answer in subsidizing the solar systems.  Bangladesh showed that subsidies alone won’t create a market.  Developing a solar market takes more―much more: rural entrepreneurs, finance, innovative business models and leadership.

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