Renewable energy is an export hit

Worldwide, investments in wind and water power, solar and bioenergy as well as geothermal energy are growing rapidly. Apart from the European Union, the important growth markets are above all China, India and the USA. In only seven years, world market volume for renewable energy has doubled from 30 to its current 60 billion euro. In 2020 this market will have grown to more than 400 billion euro.

Germany is world champion in the development and use of systems for utilisation of renewable energy. Knowledge and engineering "Made in Germany" are export hits and are used worldwide to produce electricity, heat and fuel from renewable energy. 

In 2007, the export volume of the total industry was around 8.5 billion euro, for 2008 the renewable energies industry projects around 12 billion euro. Foreign business is currently most important for the water power and wind industry with export shares of 85 percent. Export has also become far more important for the solar industry: According to the German Solar Industry Association (BSW), in 2008 the photovoltaic industry already sent 46 percent of its production abroad. This equates to an export income of 3.7 billion euro. The German renewable energy industry is aiming to achieve an average export share of 80 percent by 2020. By then the industry hopes to generate an income of 80 billion euro annually from the export of plant and components.