Projekt Sonnenschein : British & German Conservatives supporting community renewables

1. Projekt Sonnenschein: British & German Conservatives supporting community renewables Alban Thurston Claverton conference, Birmingham University, 18 January 2013

2. German Conservatives: completely at ease with green energy • 600 local co-operatives now supply green energy, plus municipal ‘Stadtwerke’ • Merkel’s conservative-led Coalition embraces Red-Green legacy of green energy, while cutting FiTs. After Fukushima in 2011, Merkel sets timelines to close nukes, calls centralised generators’ bluff – ‘ pineapples in Alaska’ said RWE • Policy stability green growth. Since 2000 German FiTs, plus priority grid access, create 400 k green-collar jobs. >1 million suppliers, smashing cartel of Big 4. Since 2009 alone, energy co-ops have invested >€ 800 million. Under 5% share. Democratic, engaged, local, accountable. • Nov 2012, conservatives Josef Göppel CSU & Ingbert Liebing CDU convene first congress of Germany energy co-ops. "Co-operatives support notions of personal responsibility," - Josef Göppel CDU/CSU. "They strengthen the middle classes and keep economic power in the regions. These are all core themes of Christian Democratic [ conservative ] politics.“ he tells Euro Energy Review, Dec ‘12. (my emphasis) Alban.Thurston@dsl.pipex.com m: 07710 888064

3. Progressive Tories end their silence Alban.Thurston@dsl.pipex.com m: 07710 888064

4. Learning from the Germans CDU eager to share lessons with British civil society - ‘Germany’s community energy co-ops look forward to having strong partners in the UK” - JG to Westminster think-tank Respublica, July 2012 June 2012: 27 Conservative MPs sign Laura Sandys’ Commons EDM, urging “..the Government to promote the right fiscal and regulatory framework to accelerate green growth as an intrinsic part of the UK’s economic recovery“ October 2012, Sandys promoted to become Greg Barker’s PPS at DECC. Sandys tells Projekt Sonnenschein, Sept 2012: ‘Give us an alternative narrative’ - i.e. job creation, ‘Big Society’ localism, civic engagement. Germany, in spades! 20 years after N Ridley, Tories embrace ‘industrial policy’ Anglian/E. Coast ‘green’ Tories: T Yeo, B Gummer, Sandys, M Vickers – all say good things about Projekt Sonnenschein. Support from C Spelman, Z Goldsmith, etc Middle England wakes up to horrors of fracking...cf German geo-thermal Alban.Thurston@dsl.pipex.com m: 07710 888064

5. How the Projekt spreads Sonnenschein • “Give me an alternative narrative” – Laura Sandys, to Projekt Sonnenchein, Sept 2012 • Introductions at 2 levels: Town to twinned town, and MP to MP • Twinned Towns - Database, detailing German mentor co-ops, for linking with UK communities, including c50 UK groups already running or contemplating co-ops • MP-to-MP contact Josef Göppel to visit Westminster in 2013 - PRASEG? German group? B Gummer in Leipzig & Berlin, autumn 2012 • British Conservatives MPs supporting Projekt Sonnenscheininclude • Tim Yeo, president, Renewable Energy Association • Zac Goldsmith Caroline Spelman • Ben Gummer Martin Vickers etc, etc Alban.Thurston@dsl.pipex.com m: 07710 888064

6. Alban.Thurston@dsl.pipex.com m: 07710 888064

7. Thank You Alban.Thurston@dsl.pipex.com m: 07710 888064 Wimbledon, London, SW19 Projekt Sonnenschein