Federal Environment Minister Jürgen Trittin intends extending the German government's future investment programme for the further development of renewable energies, which also includes solarthermics, beyond 2003. Speaking at the opening of a conference on high temperature solar thermic electricity generation, jointly organised by the Federal Environment Ministry and the ReconstructionLoan Corporation (Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau) and held in Berlin in mid-March, Trittin noted that Germany's research institutes and companies are world leaders in the development of solarpower stations. "We must use this opportunity to take the next step, developing installations which can be exported to countries along the sun belt. With the Government's help," he added, "solarpower stations will become Germany's export hit of the future. This will benefit both climate protection and the economy."
Under its investment in the future programme, the German Government will provide a total of 10 million Euro up to 2003 for research and development projects on solar thermal power stations. Fiveof these projects concentrate on the different available technologies, with possibilities ranging from parabolic trough technology to the so-called solar tower. Another project focuses on technicalassessment and promotes the introduction of solar power stations onto the market. The Federal Environment Ministry has invested a total of 30 million Euro in renewable energies research. JürgenTrittin believes that the investment in the future programme should be continued until at least 2006.
Solar thermal power stations use mirrors to concentrate sunlight. Electricity is generated from the resulting heat. For the operation of these plants to be economically viable, they are bestlocated in the Earth's hot, dry zones south of the 40th latitude (the so-called sunbelt). In theory, the desert regions of North Africa alone could cover the energy needs of the planet. AlthoughGermany cannot be considered as a location for solar thermal power stations, such plants can also play a role here in sustainable energy supply, for instance by using highly efficient systems forenergy transfer. The projects could be financed by implementing the flexible mechanisms of the Kyoto Protocol (e.g. emissions trading).