Speech by Parliamentary State Secretary Katherina Reiche 1st German-Arab Energy Forum of the Federation of German Industries (BDI)

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Ladies and gentlemen,

I. Introduction

I cordially welcome you all here in Germany and I very much appreciate the long journey many of you have made to come here.

It is a great honour for me as representative of the federal government of Germany to deliver a keynote speech.

I would therefore like to thank the organisers, the Federation of German Industries (BDI), for the invitation to the 1st German-Arab Energy Forum.

Maybe some of you even combined their trip with a visit to the large wind fair in Husum a few days ago. The small town of Husum on the North Sea is perhaps most commonly regarded as the birth place of the German wind power industry.

The German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety is very pleased to cooperate closely with industry and the Federation of German Industries.

And we want to intensify this cooperation because we need industry, we need your knowledge and we need experience to reach our ambitious goals on renewable energies and wind energy in particular.

And we also have a close cooperation with the organiser of the next World Wind Energy Conference (WWEC) in May 2011 in Cairo/Egypt, Professor Galal Osman. He is a representative of the World Wind Energy Association (WWEA).

I can only urge you to participate in these conferences, too, and take advantage of the excellent opportunities for networking and exchanging information on the latest progress and developments.

II. Wind Energy in the Middle East and North Africa

Global challenges such as climate change, energy supply security and combating poverty can only be solved by working together internationally.

This is why Germany, together with like-minded countries, initiated the founding of IRENA, the International Renewable Energy Agency. IRENA's main tasks include advising governments on political, economic and legal framework conditions, and providing support for technology and know-how transfer and capacity building.

We are delighted that IRENA is experiencing such great support and hospitality in Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates.

Almost 150 countries have decided to join IRENA – this is a very promising success for the promotion of all forms of renewable energies and for the international community. Many countries have discovered the huge potential and possibilities, including economic opportunities, and have decided to join forces for the future.

The wind world in the Middle East and North Africa is certainly very diverse: On the one hand there are countries such as Morocco and Egypt at the forefront, while on the other, some countries have a very large potential which has not yet been exploited.

I would like to make some remarks on several countries.

Egypt currently has 500 MW of installed wind power, but it needs to install another 7000 MW by 2020 to achieve its 20 % renewables target.

With the launch of the Masdar Initiative the United Arab Emirates has pushed ambitions to another level.

I applaud the fact that this initiative is a joint shareholder, together with the German energy company E.ON, in the world's largest wind farm, London Array in the United Kingdom.

However, it is no secret that Germany also has very suitable areas for wind power on- and offshore. And I would be delighted to see your wind power projects extended to our country.

Other countries such as Kuwait also have great potential for wind power. And there are certainly more countries about to launch wind energy activities, for example Libya, Tunisia and Algeria.

When the Emir of Kuwait visited Germany, a Memorandum of Understanding was signed with the aim of intensifying future cooperation in the area of environmental protection and renewable energies. GTZ, the German development aid implementing agency, has offered several services which I would be happy to see accepted, as they would help achieve your 5 % target for overall renewable energy by 2020.

III. Reliable framework for renewable energies and international cooperation

Reliable political and economically profitable framework conditions are certainly needed to exploit the potential of renewable energies.

Germany has had very good experience with legally fixed feed-in-tariffs, paid for 20 years, for every kilowatt hour which is fed into the grid.

Together with priority of access and transmission these elements are the pillars of the extraordinary success story of renewable electricity in Germany.

Today about 16 % of our electricity is generated from renewable energies. By 2020 we want to reach a share of 35 %, and a share of 80 % by 2050.

I am more than happy to discuss our experience of the feed-in-tariff in greater detail if you wish. You can also find all information on the homepage of the Federal Ministry for the Environment.

In addition, together with Spain and Slovenia we have created a “Feed-In-Cooperation”, and we would be happy to have an exchange on that instrument as well. We invite other countries to join this cooperation.

Of course, our comprehensive databases and information are freely available on our website.

I cordially invite you to make use of these possibilities for generating business opportunities.

The German Federal Environment is very pleased to cooperate with you by sharing our wide experience and the factors which contributed to our own successful expansion of renewable energies.

IV. Conclusion

Regarding cooperation between the Middle East and North Africa, there are also other fields of interest besides wind energy.

The import of solar energy from North African countries to Europe could contribute to a future European energy supply. Due to its superior storage capacity, concentrated solar power (CSP) will play a very important role here. It can provide an important back-up capacity for balancing intermittent renewable energy in the future energy system.

Here, the Mediterranean Solar Plan comes in, the overriding goal of which is to set up appropriate framework conditions for a joint cooperation between EU and Middle Eastern and North African countries.

These projects have significantly improved the energy supply in the Middle East and North Africa.

Together with the Members of the Union for the Mediterranean and the European Commission, the Federal Government will set up a coordinated overall strategy establishing the necessary framework conditions for CSP-projects in the Mena region. We will do this by drafting the Master Plan for implementing the Mediterranean Solar Plan. In this context we will also identify the necessary framework conditions for implementation of the Desertec project.

Desertec offers very interesting, though rather long-term, joint prospects for the Middle East, North Africa and Europe. However, there are major challenges, particularly regarding grid connections, interconnectors and governance, which must not be underestimated.

There will certainly be more concepts such as Desertec and other initiatives in future, and substantial growth in installed wind power capacity over the next decades.

But wind power offers other very promising prospects beyond increased supply. Incidentally, of all forms of energy, most newly installed capacity in recent years has been in the wind sector.

But it also means the following:

• More sustainable jobs providing secure incomes for our citizens. In Germany 340,000 people are employed in the renewable energy sector.
• a greening of the economy while increasing industry's competitiveness
• innovations and technical leadership which put us at the top
• zero emissions and better environmental protection.

This new direction of development may be a particular challenge, but in light of the Arab world's high dependence on oil exports, it is also an opportunity.

Wind power - and this applies to renewables in general - has survived the financial and economic crisis far better than other economic fields.One of the reasons is that here real and truly sustainable investments have been made which pay off in environmental, social and economic terms.

I am convinced that the 1st German-Arab Energy Forum of the Federation of German Industries (BDI) offers fantastic opportunities to share knowledge about the political conditions needed for expanding renewable energy and how to make it a political success.

And I also invite you to get in contact and to cooperate with German companies. Our companies are highly skilled and offer advanced solutions and technologies. I am sure they are perfect partners for renewable energy investments in the Middle East and North Africa.

Now I am looking forward to hearing what the other participants of the discussion have to say.

Thank you for your attention.