energie-allee, issue june 2015

Solar future Solar energy has great prospects

worldwide. It also no longer has to shy away from profitability comparisons.

energie-alleeThe magazine of the juwi group JUNE 2015

While the employees at juwi are planning wind parks and solar plants, their children are experimenting with the elements of nature next door in the company day care center “juwelchen”.

the home for little reSearcherS

WALKING THE TALK

2 ENErGIE-ALLEE | JUNE 2015

the salt trickles slowly into the water glass. Raja and Rio take another pinch. And then another. The two look closely at

what happens with the sun flower oil which floats in a finger-thick golden-yellow layer on top of the water. “It’s making little bubbles,” Raja notes. And indeed: the oil which bonds to the salt sinks in small droplets to the bottom of the glass. It looks like magic, but it’s a result of physics: oil is lighter than water, but when it is combined with salt it becomes heavier. In order to make the experiment more vivid, the day care teacher Eva Schneider handed out food coloring beforehand. Red, green, yellow. This makes the bub-bles which Raja and Rio are creating in their glasses along with Moritz, Nola, Jonas, and Elena, look a lot like the up and down of the colorful fluids in a lava lamp. At the “juwelchen”, the company daycare center of juwi, children learn how to understand natural con-nections. And the experiment with water, oil, and salt is only one of many. The shelf houses a globe, several hourglasses, paper, paint colors, brushes, books, and of course wind wheels which turn faster, the more you blow on them. “Our little ones have their first eureka moments here in the little research lab and learn to be enthusiastic about nature,” explains Eva Schneider. Not just in the “home for little research-ers” but also outside: they can watch bugs, butter-flies, or bees in an “insect hotel”, plant and harvest lettuce and beans in the vegetable garden. At the moment there are about 60 children discovering the world in the “juwelchen” while their parents plan where the large wind turbines can catch the wind in the neighboring office building. To make it easier to combine work and family, juwi opened its own day-care center in 2009, for the wind park planners of today and those of tomorrow.

eva Schneiderhas been working as educator in the “juwelchen” since December 2011. Here she mainly works with the children in the pixy group (“Wichtelgruppe”) and the research lab. She also guides visitors who want to study the pedagogical concept of the kindergarten. In 2014, she welcomed 120 guests from 22 institutions.

conSultation daycareThe state of rhineland-Palatinate has nominated the “juwelchen” as a consultation daycare centre in 2014. This means that educa-tors from other institutions can receive training here, for instance during afternoon workshops or guest visits. Politicians and operators of other daycare centers may receive information here. The “juwelchen” has been a “home for little researchers” since 2013. A foundation under the same name supports pedagogical institutions in conveying the responsible treatment of natural resources to children.

www.haus-der-kleinen- forscher.de/en

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content

imprintPublisher: juwi AG, Energie-Allee 1, 55286 Wörrstadt; Responsible for content and editor in chief: Christian Hinsch, Thomas Hoch; Editorial team: Benedikt Brüne, Eva Eichberger, Robert Habi, Michael Löhr, Felix Wächter Concept, design, production: SIGNUM communication Werbeagentur GmbH, Mannheim

Print: Heyne-Druck GmbH, Offenbach am Main

Picture credits: Stephan Dinges (title, pages 2, 3, 10, 27), TWS/Felix Kästle (5), Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE (5), picturingafrica.com (5, 14), fotolia.com (6), S. Fischer Verlag (6), Solar Impulse (8), Agency for Renewable Energies (9), Volker Wilhelm (9), Dominion Generation (13), istockphoto.com (28), juwi, private

Circulation: 5,200 copies

Editorial deadline of this issue: May 11, 2015

trailBlaZerS It is neither a theory nor a secret that investments into solar power pay off. Our three trailblazers provide us with reports from their practice.

five minuteSWhat does a solar eclipse have to do with the energy transition? Find the answer to this question and many other news items on our 5-minute pages.

in focuSAn American energy supplier, a mine operator from Australia, and a winegrower from South Africa: all of them take advantage of the benefits of solar energy. employeeSFrom Australia via the Alps all the way to Wörrstadt: portraits of juwi employees.

projectThe “Galgenberg” (gallows hill) in the Palatine no longer features gallows as it did in the Middle Ages but instead highly modern wind turbines.

partnerMarkus Stillger and Armin Stahl are Asset Managers with a preference for wind and solar parks from the project labs of juwi.

documentaryTheir history starts in 1996. Since then, a wine-grower and a wind energy expert from juwi have been collecting a bountiful harvest. Year after year.

my poSitionjuwi is tackling new challenges with a lot of confi-dence. And with a strong partner by their side.

energyFireflies: beautiful light in the dark. Their energy efficiency is unique.

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TrAILBLAZErS

Power from sunlight has noticeable cost benefits for users — even today. An energy supplier from Baden-Wurttemberg, a winemaker from the Cape Town region, and a well-known scientist confirm this from their perspective.

iS Solar poWer already competitive today?

The reform of the Renewable Energies Act (EEG) requires a great deal of flexibility and individual solutions from developers, operators, and customers. When carefully planning and optimizing the customer load profile, the use of solar power can be economical for customers, when it is compared to obtaining energy from the grid, even today. When considering all external costs and a medium-term time frame, the production of solar power is competitive already today compared to conventional energy sources. For this reason, the Technische Werke Schussental are consistently expanding their production for own use in the area of regenerative energy sources.

helmut hertleis the Managing Director of the TWS Netz GmbH, which is part of the Technische Werke Schussental (TWS). In 2012, juwi installed a 4.5 megawatt solar park for the TWS located in ravensburg.

The rapid development of photovoltaics in Germany – seven gigawatt annually just in the years 2010 to 2012 – led to a price reduction at the energy exchange since solar power served especially peak loads. At the same time, these German pioneer-ing efforts led to a boom in the market and thus to an unexpectedly rapid reduction in costs. Today one can produce solar power for ten euro cent per kWh, i.e. clearly cheaper than power from the socket. The systems pay off; own consumption and storage systems have become attractive. Unfortunately, the latest EEG reform has led to uncertainty of citizens and busi-nesses, new construction has taken a massive hit, Germany is at risk of losing its pioneering role.

profeSSor eicke r. WeBer He is one of the best-known solar scientists in the world. The physicist is the head of the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE in Freiburg, Germany, and teaches physics and solar energy at the university there.

anthony f. corinThe South African winegrower owns theSlimSun Swartland solar farm in the north of Cape Town. The operation of the plant that juwi has constructed started in early 2013.

As a wine farmer who is not running a large-scale commercial operation I had to look into other mechanisms to balancing out the overall economic viability of the farm. That is how we got into solar PV as a viable ”farming with sun” activity. The best contribution in supporting and sustaining the rest of the farming activity happens to be through our five megawatt renewable energy project. Additionally, one of the big benefits of the South African Renewable Energy Program is the very strong social economic development angle to it. It creates jobs for the immediate community and that is worth a lot to us.

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naomi klein: “thiS changeS everything” Global warming can still be stopped, but the necessary climate protection fails due to capitalism. This is Naomi Klein’s thesis in her book “This Changes Everything”. The dominance of large energy corporations is the problem, as they defend their climate-damaging business with all means. A few months before the important climate summit at the end of Novem-ber in Paris, the Canadian thus makes an appeal to the world: a mass movement for climate protection may be our last chance to force business and politics to act.

Naomi Klein (2014): “This Changes Everything”, 576 pages, Simon & Schuster, New York.

BooK rECoMMENDATIoN

the national grid paSSeS the StreSS teSt The solar eclipse in March caused no problem for Germany’s power supply system. “It was hard going for both the national grid as well as every-one involved, but not a serious problem. Conven-tional electricity stations were powered up to compensate, which meant they were, therefore, able to keep mains frequency at the nominal value of 50 hertz,” said Fraunhofer IWES scientist Dominik Jost. “The consumption and production of electrical energy were in balance.” Owing to the shadowing of the sun by the moon, critics had, in the run-up to the eclipse, feared a black-out due to a sudden flare of solar energy.

SoLAr ECLIPSE

juwi finished in second place at the Alternativer Gesundheitspreis (Alterna-tive Health Prize) 2014 founded by the Health Insurance Fund BKK Advita located in Alzey, Germany. During the award ceremony at the Biofach fair 2015 in Nürnberg, State Secretary Thomas Griese from the Ministry of Health of the state of Rhineland-Palati-nate praised juwi for its extraordinary infrastructure at its company headquar-ters in Wörrstadt. It includes energy- efficient office buildings, a fitness gym, a football and beach volleyball field, as well as the sustainable concept of the company restaurant “juwitality”. The BKK Advita awards the health prize to honor the commitment of small and medium-sized businesses in the area of health promotion.

In Mihla, in the local authority of Wart-burgkreis, juwi is currently installing five Enercon E-101 wind turbines and thus its first wind park in the state of Thuringia. Once the park is connected to the grid, it will produce about 35 million kWh of climate-friendly power annually – enough for about 10,000 households. There are plans to expand the wind park with another four E-101 turbines.

juWi receiveS health priZe

five e-101 are on the poWer grid

AWArD-WINNING

THUrINGIA

5 M

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the neXt Step By 2020, the municipal utility of Tübingen want to cover half of their power sales from regenera-tive sources. In order to achieve this goal, the energy supplier is expanding its wind power port-folio step by step. The latest examples of this are the four wind turbines type Nordex N-117 which juwi is currently installing

in Oberkochen in the Ostalb District. The wind park Oberkochen is the second wind park developed by juwi in Baden-Wurttemberg – after Nassau in Tauberfranken. juwi Regional Manager Sabine Pierau: “The wind park is another important step for the energy transition in Baden-Wurttemberg.”

Arno Mohr is the mayor of the municipality Alsenz-Obermoschel in the north of Palatine.

educational trail for hikerS

The wind park Lettweiler Höhe in the District of Bad Kreuznach in Rhineland-Palatinate promises hiking fun with many insightful experiences. In the beginning of May, juwi together with the associated municipalities of Alsenz-Obermoschel and Meisenheim has created a hiking trail. On ten boards visitors are provided with fascinating information about wind energy and the region. This will transform a mundane walk underneath the mighty rotors into an informational experience.

WIND PArK LETTWEILEr HöHE

World Future energy Summit Abu dhAbi At the World Future Energy Summit in Abu Dhabi, juwi employees displayed their services in the area of solar energy in a trade show booth with an oriental design. Exhibitors and visitors took the opportunity in January to connect and exchange information. juwi had competent representation there with employees from the Dubai subsidiary. With about 30,000 visitors from 170 countries, the World Future Energy Summit in Abu Dhabi is the leading trade show for future-oriented technologies and clean energies in the region.

outlook The leading trade show of the wind energy industry, Husum Wind, will take place September 15 to 18, 2015 in Schleswig-Holstein. Visitors will be able to find the juwi group at booth 2B15. Experts in the energy business from all over the world are meeting in the district capital of Nordfriesland in Germany.

Find out more about our schedule at www.juwi.com.

a look Back EXPErIENCING rENEWABLES LIVE

MUNICIPAL UTILITY TÜBINGEN

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“‘SOLAR IMpULSE‘ IS NOT AN AIRpLANE.

IT IS A SyMBOL OF WHAT WE CAN ACHIEVE

WHEN WE BELIEVE IN THE IMpOSSIBLE.”

In the beginning of March, the Swiss adventurer Bertrand piccard started his circumnavigation of the world in a specially constructed solar airplane, the “Solar Impulse”.

facebook.com/piccardbertrand

good outlook for Solar energy In February, juwi Shizen Energy completed a two mega-watt solar park in Nishi-Izu in the prefecture Shizuoka, about 200 kilometers south-west of Tokyo. The solar power plant in an idyllic setting is located on the grounds of a former quartz mine which had been unused for years. By April, the joint venture has already started operations in five plants with a total capacity of nine megawatt.

juwi has successfully implemented its first Turkish solar project in the Denizli province in the southwest of the country. Since the beginning of May, Yingli modules with a total output of 7.4 megawatt spread over an area of about 50,000 sqm are producing clean solar power. The client for the construction of the seven individual plants was the Turkish company Karine Enerji. “Rainy weather and very rocky ground made the construction tremendously diffi-cult,” this is how Project Manager Takis Sarris describes the challenges.

51 megaWatt on the gridWith the Charanka solar park in the Indian Patan district, juwi has completed another major project on the Asian subcontinent. Since April, thousands of modules are collecting the energy of the Indian sun and generating a total of 51 megawatt power. In the Indian market juwi works mainly as an EPC service provider.

juWi celeBrateS itS premiere in turkey

TUrKEY

INDIA

JAPAN

JUWI International

Solar park with view of the sea in Japan’s Nishi-Izu.

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The damage of the nuclear

catastrophe in Japan’s Fukushima reaches

unimagined dimensions. According to an estimate

by professor kenichi oshima of the Ritsumeikan University

in Kyoto, the damage just until today has reached a cost

of approx. 84 billion euros. “Of this sum, the power plant operator Tepco has only paid about 16.6 billion. The rest is paid for by the general public, even though they are hardly

aware of this,” explains Oshima. Four years after the

accident the damaged reactors are still not

completely under control.

a trip in a Balloon and a cooking courSe The readers of the Energie-Allee magazine are satisfied with its quality. This was confirmed by our reader survey in the January issue with good to very good overall ratings. Of the roughly 80 participants, the grand prize winners were: ralf labusch (cooking course), rupert köhler and lorenz heinen (each winning a trip in a hot air balloon). Congratulations!

rEADEr SUrVEY

juWi inStallS Wind parkS in the taunuS

Three plants of the wind park Hohenstein in the Taunus forest have been assembled and operating since the end of March. The 7.6 megawatt wind park consists of wind turbines of the type General Electric GE 2.5-120. The trio of turbines, each with a hub height of 139 meters and a rotor diameter of 120 meters, generate about 22 million kWh annually – enough for about 6,200 households. The investor is the Regensburg Energie- und Wasser- versorgung AG (Rewag). Hohenstein is the largest wind project in Hesse to date for juwi.

HESSE

opponents of wind energy claim:

“Infrasound generated by wind turbines can lead to illnesses such as high blood pressure, depression, diabetes, or sleep disorders.”

But we know: Wind turbines do not generate nearly high enough noise levels to lead to health concerns. At a distance of only 250 meters, the infrasound generated by the movement of the rotors can neither be heard nor felt. This has been confirmed by studies of the State Agen-cies for Environment in Bavaria and Baden-Wurttemberg. At a distance of 700 meters, the infrasound generated by a wind energy plant is even weaker than that of the wind itself.

Sources: www.lfu.bayern.de, www.lubw.baden-wuerttemberg.de, Bundesverband Windenergie [Federal Association for Wind Energy]

KNoW-IT-ALL

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Clean solar power is not only good for our climate. Many companies as well as countries around the world are already using the cost benefits of solar energy, from the major energy supplier in the US state of Virginia to a mining company in Australia.

WorldWide groWth SoLAr FUTUrE


climate change has become a reality. Instead of talking, we need to act and invest into renewable energies. The

sun is our future.” The man who says this is not a lobbyist for the solar industry. Tim Cook is the CEO of Apple, the largest corporation in the world according to its stock value. The iPhone company is constructing an enormous solar plant in Califor-nia for about 850 million dollars. Spanning 12 square kilometers, with a total output of 130 megawatt, the utility-scale solar power plant is supposed to generate sufficient electricity for the new company headquarters in Cupertino and all Apple Stores in California. “We are doing this because it pays off,” Cook is convinced. “For the environment and for Apple.”

More and more large companies around the world share Apple’s view. Google and Microsoft have invested hundreds of millions into wind power. Walmart and Amazon are using the roofs of their stores and logistics centers for solar power gen-eration. Even Ikea has recently announced that they will completely switch to green energy at the latest by 2020. In the US, even major energy sup-pliers who previously put their money into fossil energy sources and more recently on fracking, have now discovered the renewables. Not always out of conviction, but always due to economic con-siderations.

On one hand, the commitment of companies to clean energy supplies is more and more valued by customers. Where does the power which runs these enormous cloud data storages come from? This is no longer just an argument for hardcore tree huggers whether to choose one supplier over another. But even more importantly: energy from renewable sources is already a lot cheaper than traditional fuels. And this trend continues – despite fracking and decreasing oil prices. So it is no won-der that even states like Dubai, which literally swim in oil, are now looking towards solar energy and investing millions in large photovoltaic plants.

“Sustainability and profitability are the decisive arguments for the transformation of our energy supply,” says Jan Warzecha, Director of Technology at the juwi international GmbH and an expert in the

Jan Warzecha: “Over the next few years, the production costs of solar power will continue to decrease.”

11

current developments in the use of renewable energies. Then Warzecha adds by saying: “By 2025, the production costs of solar power in Europe will drop to four to six cents per kWh. This will make this form of power generation not only cleaner but also cheaper than power from new coal or natural gas plants.” A current study of the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems (ISE) confirms his assessment: even with constant prices for raw materials, coal and natural gas plants will not be able to keep up with renewables. We will not even mention new nuclear power plants whose power will not be available for less than ten cents/kWh in the near future.

The price of solar power depends on many factors: solar irradiation, costs for solar plants, modules, inverters, all the way to grid connection. Add to this capital costs for financing the plants. “The costs for the technology will continue to fall vigor-ously in the future,” Warzecha is sure. In the worst-case scenario, energy experts assume that the price of solar power plants will almost be cut in half by 2050, from today’s roughly 1,000 €/kW peak electrical power to about 600 €/kW peak.

the auStralian gold and copper mine: clean and cheap off the grid Worldwide, many governments and energy suppli-ers have recognized this trend in the meantime, as well as large and smaller businesses. In Australia, for instance, the mining company Sandfire Resources NL takes advantage of cheap solar power for its gold and copper mine DeGrussa.

Here, in the middle of the Australian outback the company has extracted more than 250,000 tons of the coveted precious metals since 2012. The mine does not have a grid connection to Perth, which is 900 kilometers away. It is energy self- sufficient. The power is still being generated in a 20 megawatt diesel power plant. This will change in the spring of 2016. Then one of the largest solar-hybrid power plants in the world will start opera-tions and supply the mine with cheap, clean power during the day. The sophisticated system of a 10.6 megawatt single axis solar power plant including battery unit will be completely synchronized with the diesel generators. The Australian subsidiary of the juwi group is slated to build the plant.

“The project represents an opportunity for us to participate in a low-risk renewable energy initiative with minimum capital requirement and the oppor-tunity to significantly reduce our medium and long-term power costs,” Karl Simich, CEO of Sandfire Resources NL, praises the implementation of the project. “The scale of this project will be an Aus-tralian and a world first – a unique combination of an off-grid, high capacity solar power array which will be fully integrated with an existing diesel power station. In addition, it is a very manageable project which, importantly, will not impact on the efficiency or safety of our existing operations, while allowing Sandfire to make a solid contribu-tion to the broader challenge of reducing harmful CO2 emissions and potentially reducing our operat-ing costs in the long run,” states the head of the mining company.

Karl Simich, CEo of Sandfire resources NL: “The combination of new off-grid solar park and existing diesel power plant is unique in the world.”

Start of construction at Pavant solar park in Utah, USA. At the end

of 2015, the juwi project will go on the grid and

will supply 12,000 households with energy.


For Jan Warzecha the project confirms the profit-ability of solar energy: “For energy-intensive min-ing, farming, or tourism operations in off-grid areas, large ground-mounted solar plants are already the more cost-effective alternative. The prices for fossil energy sources will not remain at current levels for a long time but start going up again in the future. In contrast, the prices for renewable energies are continually decreasing.”

american energy SupplierS: more green thankS to leSS coal In the past decades American energy suppliers lived by this unwritten rule: you can only earn real green with coal. Giant excavators were digging coal from the ground, especially in the desert states Nevada and Utah, where the dirty gold can be extracted close to the surface. Power plants with giant smokestacks were constructed right next door, that burned coal and produced power. Huge transmission lines transported the energy for hundreds of miles to the metropolitan areas in California and ensured that neon ads could illumi-nate the night and A/Cs could run around the clock. However, the change that President Barack Obama called for in politics has also reached energy sup-ply. Los Angeles will completely switch to renew-able energy by 2025. The city of angels wants to transform from “Smog City” to “Sun City”. The major energy suppliers have no choice but to adapt their power production to the wishes of their cus-tomers. A company which recognized this early on is the publicly traded energy corporation Dominion Resources Inc. with headquarters in Richmond,

Virginia. “Solar energy is the key component of Dominion’s growth in renewable generating capac-ity,” says David A. Christian, CEO of Dominion Generation. “We are delighted to expand our solar footprint into Utah.”

Consequently, at the end of last year Dominion has awarded juwi one of the largest solar projects in the history of the company. By the end of 2015, juwi Inc. will install a solar power plant with an installed capacity of more than 60 megawatt in the state of Utah, about halfway between Salt Lake City and Las Vegas. The power will be trans-ferred to PacifiCorp for 20 years via a so-called Power Purchase Agreement, which will in turn supply 12,000 households with clean energy. “The project with the name Pavant Solar is not only the largest of our currently 14 PV plants in the US,” says Mike Martin, CEO of juwi Inc. “It also very impressively shows that solar energy is now easily able to compete with fossil fuels in terms of costs.” In the end it is this proven profit-ability of renewable energies which has convinced other US energy suppliers to use juwi’s help to secure a place in the sun: PSEG (Public Service Enterprise Group) in Arizona and Vermont, South-ern Maryland Electric Cooperative (SMECO) in Maryland, and El Paso Electric in Texas. juwi will soon have a sort of home game in Colorado. A 22 megawatt solar plant will be created less than 100 kilometers from the headquarters of its US sub-sidiary in Boulder. Here, too, an energy supplier is the partner of the juwi group – the Platte River Power Authority (PRPA).

South Africa: In the land of hard coal, solar energy is already more competitive than power from new coal-fired power plants will ever be.

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regional added value in South africa: ShoWing off With the Sun In South Africa, solar energy is able to display its benefits over fossil energy sources in several ways. It is already more cost-effective than elec-tricity from the two planned coal-fired power sta-tions Kusile and Medupi will ever be. Both power plants have been under construction for years. However, their completion keeps getting delayed year after year and is consuming mountains of money. If they will indeed go on the grid in 2019, the power they generate will cost a bit more than ten euro cents per kWh, according to the calcula-tions of the South African Standard Bank. The power from the planned diesel plants for peak loads will be even more expensive. According to the study, the power generated here will cost more than 50 euro cents per kWh. In comparison: the average price for solar power in the current bidding round lay at about six euro cents per kWh.

“The country at the Cape of Good Hope urgently needs new power plant capacities. Right at this moment, power is being rationed there – whole city neighborhoods are switched off for hours at a time,” says Jan Warzecha. Already in 2007 the country suffered from massive power shortages.

Whole regions had to be disconnected from the grid. The damage to the economy was enormous. This is part of the reason why the government is now going for renewable energies which can be realized quickly. The Renewable Energy Indepen-dent Power Producer Procurement Programme (REIPPPP) is supposed to lead to green power plant capacities in a very short time. The program is also initiating a new era of socio-economic development and participation. Everyone who par-ticipates in REIPPPP is obligated to involve the “local community” at the plant location. This can be in the form of employment or even financial participation in the project via trust companies. This is supposed to ensure that the investments will remain with the local people in the long run.

How this works can be seen in the example of the solar park Swartland built by juwi near Darling in the Western Cape Province. During the seven-month construction phase, two out of three posi-tions were filled with people from the immediate neighborhood of the solar park. In addition, a reli-able cooperation partner was found in the Darling Trust, which has a financial participation in the solar park for a period of 20 years and will finance local educational projects from the revenue.

“Generating a maximum of local added value is one of the elements of the juwi company philoso-phy,” states Jan Warzecha. And because of this, juwi has been awarded the construction of the largest solar park in the history of the company in South Africa. The company is building an 86 mega-watt solar power plant near Prieska. It will already start up in the coming year.

South Africa, America, or Asia-Pacific: solar energy has been on a steep growth curve in many regions of the world for a long time. There are good rea-sons for this. One of the most important: clean power generated from the sun no longer has to fear profitability comparisons.

Thanks to renewable energies, thousands of new jobs are being created in rural areas of South Africa.

Please also see the link to our Swartland video: www.juwi.com/swartland


“Our projects generate

long-term cash flow for our investors.”

vincente S. pérez

mr. Pérez, as Secretary of energy of the Philippines you have launched an ambitious program for the transformation of the power supply in your country. What are the key advantages of renewables?Pérez: Key advantages of solar and wind power include the environmental benefits they provide, offsetting carbon emissions, mitigating climate change, and emitting zero localized pollution. As a fossil-fuel importing country, renewables finally provide energy security to the Philippines.

Apart from the fight against climate change: What are the economic rationale for the energy revolution?Renewables provide a no-fuel cost option to long-term power pricing, so producers and customers have certainty about future prices and a hedge against fuel price volatility. Further-more, as more renewables are implemented, the cost per unit of energy has been falling significantly – compare that to conventional power sources.

how important is solar energy in that con-text?Solar is the linchpin of global energy supply, no question.

does this work all over the world or only in very sunny regions?Although stronger irradiation means greater solar energy output per unit of area, it is not the most important factor in solar power feasibility.

Solar project implementation requires land, interconnection and regulatory certainty. Solar has worked in every climate around the world for different reasons.

in which Asian markets do you see the great-est growth opportunities for solar energy?In my view, the Philippines represents a tre-mendous opportunity due to rapid growth in electricity demand due to high economic growth, stable political environment, and grow-ing support for renewables.

today, you are the president of an energy provider that takes full account on renew-ables. Can you provide your customers and investors – besides a good conscience – also with a sustainable income?Our projects generate long-term cash flow and risk-appropriate returns for our investors under bankable long-term offtake contracts. As part of our philosophy, our projects not only ensure financial sustainability, but must protect the environment and benefit the local community.

your company, Solar Pacific, has chosen juwi as ePC provider. What were you motivations?juwi is a global leader in solar power EPC ser-vices and has a strong demonstrated track record in successfully completing projects worldwide. juwi has a history of working in Southeast Asia. We felt juwi was best posi-tioned to ensure successful completion of our project.

“the linchpin of gloBal energy Supply”

INTErVIEW

In the Asia-Pacific region the demand for clean electricity rises dramatically. Philippine politician and businessman Vincente S. Pérez therefore sees excellent opportunities for the develop-ment of solar energy.

vincente S. péreZ is considered one of the

leading energy experts in Asia. After studying in the US,

as the youngest member of the cabinet in the history of

the Philippines he initiated the transformation of the energy

supply towards renewable energies from 2000 to 2005.

Today, Pérez is the president of the energy supplier Alternergy, CEo of the

consulting firm Merrit Part-ners, and the founder of Solar

Pacific, partner of the juwi group in several photovoltaics

projects.

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americaS

europe

middle eaSt and africa

6.2 gWUSA

0.8 gWSouth Africa

0.6 gWIndia

1.9 gWGermany

0.9 gWFrance

2.3 gWGreat Britain

2008 2014 2019

9.5

87.9

140.9

2008 2014 2019

1.124.2

89.5

top ten countrieS With the greateSt inStalled photovoltaicS output in 2014 In the worldwide comparison, China, Japan, and the USA by far dominated the addition of photovoltaics capacities in 2014. After a few strong years, Germany has dropped to fifth place.

Source: International Energy Agency

development and forecaSt for WorldWide inStalled photovoltaic capacitieS (in gigaWatt) The worldwide photovoltaics market has increased tenfold over the last five years and will continue to grow strongly. Asia and America will take over from Europe as drivers of growth.

Source: IHS Technology (Q4/2014 PV Demand Market Tracker)

In Germany, the legislature has put the brakes on the development of solar power over the past few years. At the same time, on a global level, there are a lot of indicators for an accelerated push into the age of solar energy.

Sunny forecaSt WorLDWIDE MArKETS

2008 2014 2019 0.1 2.6

21.0

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The costs for the construction of photovoltaic plants are continuing to sink. This trend will persist: experts forecast further price reductions both for modules and systems. This includes, for instance, the costs for support frame construc-tion and cables.

In terms of the module price development, the scientists of the Fraunhofer ISE have come up with three scenarios. Even with conservative assumptions, the learning curve will continue at 19 percent. It would thus lie only barely below the historic curve of 20.9 percent.

Source: Current and Future Cost of Photovoltaics 2015, Agora Energiewende

development and forecaSt of moduleS priceS

cheaper and cheaper

aSia-pacific

10.6 gWChina

9.7 gWJapan

0.9 gWKorea

0.9 gWAustralia

2008 2014 2019

3.0

68.4

252.8

0.20

0.10

0.50

1.00

10.00

100.00

Module prices in €/Wattspeak

Accumulated capacity in Gigawatt

0.001 0.01 0.1 1 10 1 000 10 000 100 000100

19851990

19952000

20102013

1980

Source: Current and Future Cost of Photovoltaics 2015, Agora Energiewende

2014

~1,000 €/kWp

forecaSt for SyStem coStSWorst-case and best-case scenario for development until 2050

–72 %

2050 min.(Best-case scenario)

~280 €/kWp

–39 %

2050 max.(Worst-case scenario)

~610 €/kWp

Scenario 1: 270–360 €/kWp



When juwi enters a new market, qualified staff is needed, employees that are equipped with more than just technical expertise and country-specific knowledge. They should also have a passion for renewable energies and should not be afraid to take on new challenges. Andrew Drager has it all. The 30-year-old grew up on a farm some 70 kilometers from Brisbane. After having completed his studies of Mechanical Engineering and before joining juwi he was Managing Director of Qi Power, an Australian project developer for solar installa-tions. After having met Amiram Roth-Deblon, juwi’s Regional Director for Asia-Pacific, both quickly agreed to join forces. Today Andrew Drager is the Managing Direc-tor of juwi Australia, following juwi’s acquisition of Qi Power in 2014. “There’s a lot I can learn from the new juwi colleagues,” says Andrew Drager, “that incredibly motivates me.” Currently, he is overseeing the construc-tion of the DeGrussa project – one of the largest solar hybrid plants worldwide. Commenting on the project he says: “Personally, I will get a lifelong satisfaction once the project is installed and performing to expectations. I hope this project will enhance the uptake of utility-scale renew-able energy for remote power generation.” Andrew Drager’s numerous hobbies – including football, gym, spearfishing, martial arts – are currently on hold. His major project requires passion as much as time.

name: ANDrEW DrAGErjoB: MANAGING DIrECTor JUWI AUSTrALIAproject: SoLAr HYBrID SYSTEM For CoPPEr

AND GoLD MINE

no half- meaSureS


melanie moBiliZeSname: MELANIE SCHMAHLjoB: HEAD oF MoBILITY SErVICES project: JUWI MoTor PooL

This woman simply fits to juwi: Melanie Schmahl has tons of energy, is able to connect mobility and green conscience perfectly, and has the inner balance needed to master big tasks. As head of the motor pool, she is responsible for more than 200 vehicles – from small electric VWs, to economic diesel Skodas, all the way to large construction site pick-ups. Melanie makes juwi employees mobile: she negotiates with leasing companies and ensures that vehicles with the lowest possible CO2 emissions are acquired at favorable conditions. She makes sure that winter tires are changed to summer tires on time, schedules repairs and inspections, and ensures that there is a sufficient number of vehicles in the pool. She herself has an all-you-can-drive license and drives everything on wheels – from tractors to big bikes. In her private life she rarely gets on motorcycles. After work she is focused on her children. For Oliver (14) and Sophie (12) she is simply mommy who helps with homework, plays table tennis with them, and makes sure they eat healthy. The circle closes at the stove at home: Melanie Schmahl began her career with a dual educa-tion as foreign language correspondent and office clerk at the Schott Corporation in Mainz. “Not in the solar sector, but the production of glass ceramics stove tops,” she says and laughs mischievously.

veteran With Stamina name: INGo KLUTEjoB: HEAD oF THE SYSTEM PLANNING &

rEALIZATIoN DEPArTMENTproject: PV SYSTEMS IN EUroPE, AFrICA,

AND THE MIDDLE EAST

He has crossed the Alps on a bike, summited the Mont Blanc as a mountaineer – and he is not daunted by demanding photovoltaic projects. Ingo Klute finds enthusiasm and endur-ance equally important for hobbies as well as his profession. And he is a veteran in his field. He decided early on to work for the environment: at the end of the 80s a Greenpeace ship had docked at the Dortmund-Ems canal in his hometown Münster. The exhibit they had on board concerning renewable energies electrified him – figuratively speaking: after graduating high school and finishing an apprenticeship, Klute went to Wupper-tal and studied electrical engineering with a focus on energy technology. He already gained professional experience during his studies at the wholesaler IBC Solar and then, starting in 1999, as an electrical engineer at the inverter manufacturer SMA. In 2007 he joined juwi. Today, he is responsible for planning and implementing solar plants in Europe, Africa, and the Middle East: layout, cabling, construction plans, documen-tation. In addition, Klute prepares certificates as expert for PV systems. His stamina was challenged in particular throughout the project Prieska in South Africa: the preparations alone took two and a half years. The 86 megawatt power plant now under construction – is the largest that juwi has put up until now. Ingo Klute: “We have the chance to make juwi-history.”

19

l ooking out of the car window on the drive through the district of Kusel on the way to Rothselberg you see plenty of nature.

Dense forests and soft ridges interchange along the way. One hill, however, stands out: the Galgenberg, which means “gallows hill”. The name is still a relic from the Middle Ages. Like many villages, the inhab-itants of Rothselberg and their neighbors used a hill outside of the town in order to execute the law of the time – a somewhat shadowy part of the past. Today, the Galgenberg has come to represent a renewable energy supply and thus the future of the community.

juwi is currently building a wind park there with eight plants and is repowering the existing rotors of the neighboring Jettenbach wind park. This means: three old turbines were disassembled and replaced by four new, more efficient models. Since the end of last year, the new Enercon E-101 turbines are generating climate-friendly electricity. The experts are currently mounting the last rotor blades at the remaining four plants in the second section of the park so that they should be good to go on the grid in June.

the community iS on Board “Topographically, we are in an ideal location. The highest wind turbine lies 416 meters above sea level. This gives us very good wind conditions,” explains juwi Project Manager Irina Hahn. She and her team integrated the involved communities in the planning right from the start. She continues: “The great thing was that we had a trusting cooperation with all par-ties involved. For this purpose we had a meeting with the property owners and the local administration before the start of construction.” This way juwi was able to clear up any incipient doubts and clarify remaining questions directly.

Rothselberg mayor Rainer Mohr also confirms this. He knows each of the 700 inhabitants personally and cannot remember any conflicts concerning the wind

juwi is building a wind park near Rothselberg. The village lies north of Kaiserslautern and has about 700 inhabitants. In addition to climate-friendly power, the wind park brings many other benefits – even for the citizens of the community who have not yet been born.

“a BleSSing for the community”

Wind park galgenBergSince the Galgenberg is the highest elevation in the surrounding area, the plants can exploit the wind, which blows mainly from the southwest. overall, the park has eight plants, which produce 24 megawatt to-gether. They can produce enough power for about 19,000 households every year.

rainer mohrMayor of rothselberg

park – on the contrary: “Due to the property distribu-tion around the plants, we were able to have about 70 families participate in the project with lease agree-ments. In addition,” the mayor adds, “there is no fear concerning the topic. The inhabitants have been living with the older wind turbines in their surroundings for a while now and have gotten used to it.”

Life in the small village 15 kilometers north of Kaisers-lautern is idyllic. You can find protected nature and many hiking trails right in front of your door step. Many Rothselberg inhabitants have spruced up their houses to give the village its visual charm. But, like many small, rural communities in Germany, their eco-nomic power is weak and the financial means of the community limited. Work on community squares, sports centers, or schools is difficult to finance. The wind park is thus also an important source of income for a period of at least 20 years or, as Rainer Mohr says, “a blessing for the community.”

He regularly visits the site to see the progressing works on the biggest project in the history of the community. At the construction site, juwi employee Christian Hartisch regularly informs him of all upcom-ing steps. As a construction foreman, he coordinates the work and has answers for the most important questions: which access roads need to be expanded

ProJECT PorTrAIT


Bat protection Sensors attached to the

gondolas register the move-ments of bats. The collected

data will help to adjust the operating and downtimes of

the rotors ever more precisely to protect the small mammals.

for the heavy load transports, where are the rotor blades going to be stored, or when will the crane move from one plant to the next? In addition, he and Project Manager Irina Hahn are planning the 12 kilo-meter power lines from the plants to the closest transformer station. His conclusion: “The construc-tion of the park is proceeding very nicely. We had a few days of interruption during the winter due to snow and ice, and especially the strong winds on the Galgenberg. But overall, construction is still on schedule.”

When completed, each turbine will measure 149 meters from the ground to the hub. A 120 ton con-crete tube forms the foot. On top of this, there are another 29 concrete and three steel elements – all firmly tied together on the inside with steel cables as thick as an arm. The firmly fixed, pivoting gondola sit-ting on the tower carries three rotor blades with a diameter of 101 meters. At this dimension, a turbine is able to supply power to up to 2,500 households annually.

protection for BatS and red kiteSWhen building plants to generate wind energy, the protection of fauna and flora is a very important factor. Bats are especially important. Between April and October, in certain weather conditions the wind

power plants are turned off at night during the hunting times of bats. Comprehensive bat monitoring is to clarify whether this protective measure needs to be implemented for the long run. So-called listening sta-tions are installed on the gondola and their data is analyzed by biologists. The faunistic experts of juwi have also taken precautions for protected birds of prey such as the red kite: The area below the rotors is not mowed or harvested from March to June. This makes these areas uninteresting for the birds as hunt-ing grounds. Instead, specified areas elsewhere are mowed and so provide the birds an alternative hunt-ing ground.

Irina Hahn and mayor Mohr have also developed a joint plan for the inhabitants and visitors of the com-munity. Compensation measures will bring humans and nature closer together in Rothselberg: In addition to a two hectare biotope nearby, a nature and adven-ture trail is supposed to raise the awareness of hikers, inhabitants, and students for plants and animals in their surroundings. Signs reveal news and historical facts at various locations along the trail. “In addition, it was my wish to create a birth meadow,” explains Rainer Mohr. A new tree will be planted there for every newborn child. In addition to the wind park, this gives the inhabitants of Rothselberg a second future-oriented project right at their doorstep.

The energy transition requires teamwork: Irina Hahn (left) and Christian Hartisch (right) planned

and implemented the wind park Rothselberg in the Palatine – together with many colleagues.

21

it was just before Christmas in 1997. Markus Still-ger and Armin Stahl had been successful finan-cial consultants for more than ten years with a

knack for stocks. Then a friend, himself a Chief Techni-cal Officer in a company, asked them whether they might be interested in purchasing a wind turbine. After a viewing and a long dinner, they were inter-ested. A week later, on December 28, Stillger and Stahl signed the contract for their first wind turbine.

In January 1998 there was lots of wind and revenue rolling in. From this point onwards they were hooked. “Of course, we also quickly saw that there could be slow months, too. But we recognized the basic poten-tial,” Markus Stillger remembers.

After this first, spontaneous wind turbine purchase they started looking for a professional partner for fur-

ther projects. This is how they met Matthias Willen-bacher and Fred Jung. The chemistry was good from the beginning. They had a lot in common: Stillger and Stahl, who had only wanted to finance their business studies with stock transactions, had quickly discov-ered that they could do a lot more than just that. Jung and Willenbacher, too, became entrepreneurs straight out of college. All four had been able to convince oth-ers of their idea when they were still young. This also worked in their mutual interactions: “We liked each other from the beginning,” Armin Stahl states.

This turned into a partnership which is almost as old as the juwi company itself. Just before the millennium, they realized their first joint wind project in Alsenz in Rhineland-Palatinate. Since then, the two companies have implemented more than 20 projects together – juwi as project developer and Stillger & Stahl as inves-

They are independent financial consultants, fund managers, and stock specialists. About 18 years ago, Markus Stillger and Armin Stahl purchased their first wind turbine. Since then they have invested close to 300 million euros into renewable energies. juwi has almost always been their partner.

inveStorS of the firSt hour PArTNEr ProFILE


tor. In the beginning of 2015, Markus Stillger and Armin Stahl purchased the wind park Weiskirchen with four Enercon E-115 turbines from juwi.

The two financial consultants also invested their own money in the plants. They then offered the remaining shares to their long-time customers – often in their extended circle of family and friends. The two found-ers grew up in the Limburg region, and here they have their roots and a great network. In the mean-time, they have a base of about 1,500 customers.

Markus Stillger looks out of the office window on the eighth floor of the Max Value Tower, not far from the Limburg ICE train station, and says: “Most of our cus-tomers live within view, 80 percent come from within a 15 km radius.” In 2007, Stillger and Stahl built their own office high-rise, whose name is a reminder of the first of their securities funds: the “Max Value” was started at the end of 2000 and invests exclusively into German stocks. In the meantime there are four funds, which are managed by the MB Fund Advisory GmbH, a company from the company network of Stillger and Stahl.

completely Behind the energy tranSition“We are absolute stock fans,” Armin Stahl admits. This opinion is backed up by 30 years of experience. “Since our start we have achieved an average annual return of more than nine percent with stocks.” Of course, they also experienced crashes and had to learn hard lessons. Overall, it is a success story: in 1983, when the two started dealing in stocks, the Deutsche Aktienindex (DAX) was at 500 points – today it is more than 11,000: the interest is low and investment alternatives are rare. This suits the stocks just fine – as well as the second major leg of Stillger & Stahl: renewable energies.

The two financial consultants have been following a clear principle until today: “We recommend our cus-tomers only products into which we also invest our

own money.” Over the years this has also grown into a conviction for renewable energy in general. They have inspected almost every wind and solar park in person. And once in a while they also convene share-holder meetings at a restaurant close to one of their plants – including a tour. “We stand completely behind the energy transition,” says Armin Stahl. For this reason, the Max Value Tower is not heated with conventional but with geothermal energy.There is one project which Stillger and Stahl particularly love to talk about. In 2004, together with the two juwi founders, they installed the photovoltaics system at the Bruch-weg stadium in Mainz. “Football is another passion that connects us,” explains Markus Stillger. Visiting the stadium together is part of their joint activities, as is participation in the juwi football tournament. They even have a cup displayed at the entrance to the office floor.

The two entrepreneurs from Limburg do not hide the fact that they have a special preference for invest-ments in solar energy. Since the middle of the 2000s, Stillger & Stahl have intensively invested into larger and smaller solar projects. Since the sun years have been better than the wind years since that time, these investments paid off especially. However, they continue to invest in wind energy. “We assume that the industry has drawn its conclusion from the weaker wind years and that the forecasts are now a bit more conservative,” says Stillger.

Their first wind turbine, which juwi put up for them in Alsenz, has long since been replaced by a larger, more powerful turbine. The two financial experts have been investing money into the renewable energies for over 17 years – a total of almost 300 million euros. This also included biogas and wood pelleting plants. A few days ago, their wind park in Weiskirchen in the Saarland was connected to the power grid – at one of the locations with the most wind that juwi has ever developed. The DAX is also doing its part. These are good times for the financial experts from Limburg.

In front of their headquarters: In 2007, Markus Stillger (left) and Armin Stahl constructed the Max Value Tower in Limburg.

The photovoltaics roof on the Bruchweg stadium in Mainz is a joint project of Stillger & Stahl and juwi.

Stillger & Stahl aSSet management gBr

As independent financial consultants, Markus Stillger (52)

and Armin Stahl (55), together with about ten employees, take care of

the asset development of their customers. In addition to the stock

market, the investment focus lies especially in the area of renew-

able energies. The company also acts as agent for real estate

financing. The two entrepreneurs consult for four securities funds

of the private bank Hauck & Aufhäuser via the MB Fund

Advisory GmbH. The two company founders met each other when

studying business in Gießen. In the meantime they own numerous holdings in other companies –

many of which are located in the Max Value Tower in Limburg.

23

Two men with a passion for wind energy: their joint history started almost 20 years ago. At that time they knew nothing about each other. Today they are proud of their project.

good harveSt DoCUMENTArY

Tobias Jung (left) and Sven Siebecker in the vineyards in front of the wind park Spiesheim.


a stiff breeze blows over the vineyards. Sun and clouds are interchanging quickly. Without a coat and cap it

would be pretty chilly on this day in March. In Spiesheim, Rhine-Hesse, three kilometers south of the juwi headquarters in Wörrstadt, two men meet who one could without exaggeration describe as men of the first hour in terms of wind energy. Tobias Jung, winemaker and wind turbine operator, and Sven Sie-becker, employee of the juwi Operations & Mainte-nance GmbH. Renewable energies were important to them already 19 years ago, when the energy transi-tion was still in its infancy. They had installed wind turbines in Spiesheim at the time which by compari-son to today’s system appear almost puny, but with-out which the development of wind energy would not have been possible.

From the first day until today, the five Enercon E-40 produce clean power – as reliably as is possible. Each of the turbines has an installed capacity of 500 kilo-watt, 40 meter rotor diameter, 65 meter hub height. The wind is there, the turbines turn and turn and turn. In good years, an E-40 can achieve one million kWh – depending on location and wind strength. The har-vest always depends on the location and the weather conditions. This is no different for wind than for wine.

As a farmer, Jung knows the role of nature – and knows how to deal with it. A good wine is crested on the vineyard and in the cellar. And a good wind har-vest requires favorable weather and a reliable plant. Technical availability is the decisive variable here. At the turbines in Spiesheim it lies at over 99 percent. This is a top value even for the wind industry, whose technology is always being optimized.

Jung and Siebecker meet for a photoshoot on the vineyard. Both are now over 40. The one manages one of the largest German family-owned vineyards. The other takes care of juwi customers who invest capital in wind parks. And both of them were here before, in 1996, without being able to remember

vineyardS With WorldWide SaleS Tobias Jung is 41 years old, married, and has three children. He plants 26 differ-ent grape varieties on 60 hectares of land in his wine business. The wine from rhine-Hesse is sold all over the world.

www.weingut-jung- knobloch.de

25

The wind park Spiesheim generates power very reli-ably – and this is since 1996.

meeting. 1996: this was the year in which Oliver Bier-hoff made Germany European Soccer Champion with his “golden goal”, Greenpeace presented the first three-liter car (a converted Renault Twingo), and Bill Clinton was reelected as president of the US. Sven Siebecker still worked for the wind plant installer Enercon.

“Spiesheim was my beginning,” he says and looks up at the rotor. “These are the first turbines I managed myself and the first ones which I climbed.” Back then, Siebecker developed the service for southern Ger-many for the turbine manufacturer from Ostfriesland, guided start-ups, fixed disruptions, performed main-tenance. In January 2001 he then changed to the start-up juwi as employee number eight, first worked as service technician, and then switched to the office. Today he is the contact person for the operating com-panies of more than 90 wind energy plants.

very SatiSfied With the yield Siebecker is proud of the E-40 which came onto the market in 1996 as one of the first systems with a ring generator. “They all run almost without any disrup-tions.” Software and hardware are up-to-date, repairs an exception. Tobias Jung is also very satisfied with the yield data of his E-40. “We made a very conserva-tive calculation at the time and because the system ran so well we were in a position to make repayments early on.”

When asked about the period of the mid-90s, Jung smiles. Together with his friend Fred Jung he per-formed wind measurements in Spiesheim. “The wind always blows here,” Tobias Jung said to his friend, who later went on to found juwi. And voilà: the data of the wind measuring device which the two affixed ten meters up on a light pole confirmed his percep-

tion. So they gathered the necessary capital and sub-mitted applications for construction permits for the first three wind turbines which were put up in 1996 by Sven Siebecker and his colleagues. One year later, two more systems completed the turbine quintet.

Since then, the wind industry has gone through a steep development. In 1997, a total of 500 megawatt wind power had been installed in all of Germany. Today it is more than 35,000 megawatt. Today, the towers are up to 140 meters high and thus more than twice as high as the turbines in Spiesheim. The rotor diameters have tripled – and as a result of these increased dimensions, the revenue has multiplied.

In view of this development, were there no plans to exchange the plant in Spiesheim for a more modern one per repowering? “Yes, we thought about it,” says Jung. But ongoing contacts with a mobile broadcast-ing provider who mounted emitters and antennae on one of the towers and licensing aspects always stopped them in their tracks. However, Tobias Jung is still satisfied: the power from the wind turbines and a photovoltaics system installed on his roof allow him to supply his vineyard with sustainable power. “The yield allowed us to operate CO2-neutral. This is very important to me in terms of future generations.”

After the photoshoot is finished, Jung and Siebecker continue talking about wind power. They discuss the details of a full maintenance contract for another wind park. But one question needles Sven Siebecker on the way back to the car: “Why can I remember only Fred Jung, but not you?”

Tobias Jung smiles. “That’s easy. In 1996 I lived in Canada for half a year. When I got home, the E-40 whose construction you managed was already up.”

trademark ring generator In the beginning of the 90s, with the system type E-40, Enercon converted its production from geared systems to gearless wind turbines with ring generators. A principle which the manu-facturers have stuck with until today. After the collar-shaped gondola of the E-40, Enercon designed the machine housing of all following models in the typical egg shape.


“Designing the future with clear objectives” fred jung juwi founder and CEO

We started 2015 with fresh verve and tail wind: this year we want to fortify our position as one of the leading German

project developers for wind parks and operations managers of regenerative energy plants. In addition, there are numerous energy projects in select coun-tries. Especially outside of Europe, the share of solar energy is growing rapidly. We have reported about this in depth in this issue.

All of this happens in view of a very eventful period of time – not just for the energy markets in general but also for juwi in particular. Matthias Willenbacher, one of the founders and driving forces of the energy transition, retired from the Board of Directors of the juwi group. The Board of Supervisors of the juwi AG thanked him for his special merits, his entrepreneur-ial achievements, and his personal commitment to the juwi AG over the last two decades. I, too, would like to thank him personally for our time together

since the mid-90s. In particular his unconventional manner, his boundless store of ideas, and his tire-less commitment for 100 percent renewable ener-gies defined juwi and will not be forgotten in the future.

Despite these changes, we will continue to design the future of our company with courage and clear objectives. The foundation for this confidence is in place: at the end of 2014 we entered into a partner-ship between the renewable and the traditional energy industry with the Mannheimer MVV Energie AG, which is unique in Germany in its extent. Well aware of the challenging financial situation of the juwi group, the MVV Energie AG and our financing banks decided to help us develop a sustainable energy supply with long-term financing. We are grateful for this, as we are for the loyal and reliable commitment of our customers, business partners, and employees who walk this path with us.

my

posi

tio

n

27

EnEr

gy

This is how efficiently fireflies are able to generate light. Almost no energy at all is lost to heat. There is no artificial lighting that can copy this achievement: a standard light bulb converts about five percent of the power it receives to light, the rest of the energy is radiated as heat.

95 percent

energie-allee, issue june 2015

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