Germans go to the ballot box on Sep. 22, with opinion polls suggesting Angela Merkel remains the favorite to win a third term as chancellor. Ahead of the elections, attention has focused on how best to keep the economy strong amid the ongoing European debt crisis. Whoever wins, change in renewable energy policy looks likely, although politicians disagree over the scale of reforms needed to the German Renewable Energy Act (EEG). Renewable energy subsidies in the form of feed-in tariffs could cost German consumers ?20.8 billion ($27 billion) this year, up from ?8.3 billion in 2008, largely because of an explosion in solar photovoltaic (PV) capacity (WGI Mayl'13). The government has already moved to keep a lid on growth, last year setting a solar PV cap of 52 gigawatts, after which new projects over a certain size will not be eligible for feed-in tariff support.
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