BERLIN, June 9 /PRNewswire/ -- The German parliament (Bundestag) has agreed to new laws that strengthen conditions for renewable energies investments. The laws are part of the government's "Climate Package," the goals of which are saving 250 million metric tons of CO2 by 2020, with renewable energies contributing to 30% of electricity production by the same year. These legal changes strengthen Germany as an investment location for renewable energies and energy efficiency technologies.

One element of the reform is an amendment to the Renewable Energies Sources Act (EEG). This change calls for a higher "feed-in tariff" for wind energy. The feed-in tariff is the compensation paid to owners of renewable energies systems when energy from their systems is sold to the public grid. The new law raises the feed in tariff for wind energy to a range of 9.2-15 EURcent/KWh.

The parliament also reformed the EEG for electricity from solar energy. Photovoltaic (PV) systems will receive a feed-in tariff of 33-43 EURcent/KWh, depending on the amount of electricity sold to the public grid. According to the new law the tariff will decrease between 8 and 10% in 2010 and then 9% annually after 2011.

These two reforms are important for investors. For wind energy, the increased tariffs provide further incentive for wind energy companies to enter the world's largest market in wind energy (measured in accumulated capacity).

The falling tariffs in PV energy are evidence to investors that Germany is making significant progress in reducing the cost of electricity generation from PV sources, therefore making subsidized prices less necessary to attract investment. This progress has been made thanks to highly qualified workers in the PV sector in Germany, the location of top research institutes, and leading suppliers. These conditions make Germany an attractive location for production or R&D in the PV sector.

Germany's legal reforms also promote biomass. Investors in this sector can receive feed-in tariffs of 7.79-11.67 EURCent/KWh for electricity from biomass. There are also bonus incentives to encourage the use of sustainable raw materials, or the simultaneous use of biomass in a combined heat and power (CHP, or co-generation) plant.

The legal reforms further add to Germany's attraction to investors in the biomass sector. An increased domestic demand for biomass technology and products is bringing major investors to Germany.

The climate package also calls for the promotion of heat from renewable sources. These laws require that new buildings have heating systems deriving heat from renewable sources. Financial incentives will be made available to equip older buildings with such technologies. These laws provide a ready made market, plus EUR500 million of available funding, for investors in energy efficient heating technologies such as solar thermal heating. Germany is already Europe's largest market for solar thermal technologies and offers foreign investors many possibilities.

Investors in heat-producing technologies also have growth possibilities in CHP systems. Here the federal government has made EUR750 million available annually to support CHP projects. The government has set the specific goal of having 25% of energy and heat coming from efficient parallel-production technologies by 2020.

All of these legal reforms, plus others that encourage energy efficient technologies, e.g. "intelligent electricity meters," make it clear that Germany is consolidating its position as world leader in renewable energies and offering many possibilities for foreign investors to enter its growing market.

Invest in Germany is the inward investment promotion agency of the Federal Republic of Germany. It provides investors with comprehensive support from site selection to the implementation of investment decisions.

Invest in Germany Eva Henkel Tel: +49-30-200099-173 Email: Henkel@invest-in-germany.com

Invest in Germany, Eva Henkel, Tel: +49-30-200099-173, Email: Henkel@invest-in-germany.com