Within the scope of the industry forecast, a costs-benefit analysis was performed based on the regulations of the EEG 2009 and an assumed average annual inflation rate of 2 percent. The forecast assumed that the oil price would increase to 200 US-Dollars2008 per barrel in the year 2020.

The results show that renewable energies with a 47 percent share of the power consumption seriously relieves the economy. The costs of climate change are only partially covered by CO2-certificates. In the year 2020, renewable energies will avoid additional external costs of 6.3 billion Euros relating to the production of power. The incremental costs caused by the EEG supply remuneration in 2020 will only amount to 2.4 billion Euros according to the industry calculations (incremental costs comprise the difference between the amount of the EEG remuneration payments and the power purchase costs of the energy supply companies that are avoided due to the EEG power production).

This means that renewable energies have a positive balance sheet with regard to the economic aspects. And the benefit for the labour market has not even been taken into account: Iindustry assumes that the number of jobs will rise to 500,000 by the year 2020, which is twice today’s figure.

The growing share of renewable energies in the electricity supply also relieves consumers. The rising prices of fossil energy sources will lead to a significant increase of electricity prices. This is counter-balanced by the growing use of renewable energies, because a growing share of power from renewable sources is generated at lower costs than power from other energy sources.
 
Furthermore, renewable energies continuously lower the dependency on imported fuels. They would not only have a strong negative financial impact on the economy and on consumers, but would also mean increasing dependence from a decreasing number of producing countries.