Sunday, May 13, 2012

Merkel’s Green Jobs Ambition Stalls With Cuts for Solar

German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s effort to create jobs in renewable energy is faltering as subsidy cuts and competition from Chinese manufacturers forces the industry to stop hiring for the first time in eight years.
Solar panels at the Freiburg Solar Settlement in Freiburg

Employment in Germany’s clean energy industry probably will “stagnate” this year after creating about 31,600 jobs a year since 2004, said Claudia Kemfert, senior energy analyst at the DIW economic institute in Berlin. Four German solar companies filed for protection from creditors since December including Q- Cells SE, once the world’s biggest cell maker.

Merkel is paring solar incentives after a boom made Germany the largest global market for the technology, piling pressure on domestic manufacturers as Chinese manufacturers led by Suntech Power Holdings Co. (STP) (STP) take market share. The forecast underscores the difficulty Germany will have in reaching its ambition to replace nuclear power within a decade.

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