Lobby opposes German plan to slash solar power subsidies - Feature
EARTHTIMES - German officials trying to pare back pioneering subsidies for electricity-generating solar panels are discovering that what goes up does not come down again so easily, especially when an industrial lobby is fighting to keep prices high. Green Party ministers in Germany's 1998-2005 government kicked off a renewable-energy boom with legislation that forced utility companies to pay preferential prices to buy power generated from solar panels on house rooftops and in farm fields.
These "feed-in tariffs" covered the costs of the householders and farmers operating the panels. SolarWorld AG, Germany's biggest solar company by sales, and Q-Cells SE, one of the world's largest makers of solar cells, were soon stockmarket darlings as sales boomed.
The extra costs of feed-in tariffs were borne by electricity consumers.
