Reußenköge, 25 May 2016 – Everything came to a standstill at five to twelve: instead of going about their work, staff at all four GP JOULE sites in Germany gathered on the road and in front of biogas and wind power plants to symbolically switch off renewable energy for five minutes. This joint nationwide campaign was organized in response to the current plans of the German government to amend the Renewable Energies Act, a move that will stall and thwart the development of solar energy, wind power and biomass on a massive scale.
“Not only is the government going against its own stated climate protection targets as defined in Paris at the end of 2015, it is also putting an entire industry at risk with its plans - an industry that has created hundreds of thousands of jobs over the last 15 years and developed a whole range of groundbreaking innovations. This is a catastrophe for Germany as an industrial base and sends out a disastrous message to investors both at home and abroad,” says GP JOULE founder and managing director Ove Petersen. The government assured the industry just two years ago that the expansion targets for photovoltaics, wind power and biomass plants as incorporated in the coalition agreement and laid down in the Renewable Energies Act of 2014 would remain in place on a long-term basis so as to establish planning and investment security.
“Now precisely the opposite is happening. Berlin is simply changing the rules once again. And companies had just geared their plans for investment in research and development towards the government’s pledges,” criticizes Ove Petersen. Neither does he accept the argument that renewable energy is the main reason for expensive grid development and should be restricted for this reason: “That’s not a constructive argument. New, innovative technologies such as the conversion and storage of renewable power into hydrogen (power-to-gas) can help reduce these costs. But these are not taken into account in the current amendment to the Renewable Energies Act - which I simply can’t understand.”
At the four GP JOULE sites in Reußenköge, Lübeck, Geislingen and Buttenwiesen, the renewable energies specialist now employs a workforce of more than 160 staff – and the company is planning to invest heavily in the German domestic market in future, too. After all, says Petersen, the overall situation in Germany is in fact very positive for renewable energies as a growth industry. “People support the energy turnaround and understand that it’s an enormous driving force economically, creating the basis for sustainable growth that will not waste our most valuable resources at the expense of our children and grandchildren.
“Years of technology funding for renewable energies enabled by the existing statutory provisions has allowed low-cost, CO2-free power to be produced reliably from the sun, wind and biomass and integrated in the grid using smart concepts or made available for use on the heat or mobility market,” says Ove Petersen. “Now is the time to reap the benefits of this successful industrial policy and finally establish Germany as the centre of a new worldwide green industry.” In view of this, Petersen cannot understand why the German government is now putting this growth potential at risk and ultimately causing everything to lose out - the climate, Germany’s industrial innovation capacity and jobs.
Press contact:
Timo Bovi
Director Governmental Relations and Public Affairs
Tel.: +49 (0) 4671-6074235
Mobile: +49 (0) 177 8830622
E-mail: t.bovi(at)gp-joule.de
The GP JOULE Company:
GP JOULE is a universal, innovative and authentic partner for all areas of renewable energies. Under the motto "TRUST YOUR ENERGY", the company has developed, planned and realised projects for the future-oriented use of sun, wind, biomass and energy storage since 2009. Based on a sense of respect and responsibility for mankind and the environment, GP Joule develops intelligent energy concepts and integrated solutions, thereby ensuring that the power turnaround becomes a genuine energy turnaround. The guiding principles of company founders and agricultural engineers Ove Petersen and Heinrich Gärtner include authenticity, trust, fair play, innovation and quality as well as the aim to contribute to 100% of energy consumption being drawn from renewable sources in the future. GP JOULE is thus able to offer investors a highly promising and profitable investment option. GP JOULE operates four sites in northern and southern Germany as well as two international sites in the USA and Canada.
