Solar panels cloud energy firms' growth

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by: Giles Parkinson

Source: The Australian

RWE is Germany's second-biggest energy utility. It earns more than $60 billion a year from the sale of electrons produced mostly from its remaining nuclear plants, coal and gasfired generation and a little bit of wind.

But when new chief executive Peter Terium hosted his first annual profit announcement this week, it was clear what was top of his mind: the rise of solar PV (photovoltaic).

 "Our core markets are changing remarkably fast," he said. 

And although the decision to phase out nuclear represents a fundamental change in baseload generation, it is the penetration of solar PV - now at 32GW and rising fast - that is turning the energy model upside down, turning consumers into "pro-sumers" and delivering enormous challenges to utilities like his. 

"Almost no other industry is currently undergoing such dynamic change as the energy sector," he said. 

"The success of this transformation of the energy industry will be decided at the local level."