IRENA and Germany Chart Future Renewable Energy Collaboration

German Vice-Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel and IRENA Director-General Adnan Amin met today to discuss how best to collaborate to promote the global uptake of renewable energy. Germany played a pivotal role in the foundation of IRENA and currently hosts IRENA’s Innovation and Technology Center (IITC) in Bonn, which provides information on renewable energy technologies and innovations worldwide.

"The most important argument in favor of renewable energy is that it has produced more than 300,000 new jobs in Germany.” Germany Vice-Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel

The business case for renewable energy is getting stronger as renewables are now cost competitive with fossil fuels in many cases worldwide, even without financial support and despite falling oil prices.

“Wind generation in Germany today is cheaper than any conventional generation. This is the case in one market after another. What we need now is an economic system that prices fossil fuels accurately without subsidies.” IRENA Director-General Adnan Amin

IRENA’s costing report shows that prices for Germany’s residential solar systems have fallen 64% since 2008 and are now cheaper than utility-scale projects in many countries.

Adnan Amin will speak later this month at the Berlin Energy Transition Dialogue on the potential impact and benefits of the rapid scale up of renewable energy worldwide, and IRENA and Germany will release a renewable energy roadmap for Germany later in 2015.

This was the first official visit to IRENA’s new headquarters, which received a four-pearl rating from Estidama for its energy and water efficiency. The building uses 42% less energy than global standards and 48% less water than typical buildings in Abu Dhabi.