Thread by @GunterErfurt

In order to become more independent in the energy sector, the European continent quickly needs to rebuild a strong renewable energy industry. A look across the pond shows how it can
be done: the USA passed the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) in
August (congress.gov/117/bills/hr53…). 1/8

There, a tax credit for manufacturing companies of renewable energy products, such as solar modules, has been fixed for 10 years. In a very short time since the law was enacted, the solar industry is talking ca. 50 GW of capacity that could be built very quickly in the USA. 2/8

#MeyerBurger will contribute at least 1.5 GW from our planned factory in Goodyear, AZ. What does this mean in monetary terms for government stimulus? According to the law, the following amounts will be fiscally credited in the period January 1, 2023 is December 31, 2032. 3/8

From a pragmatic point of view, the underlying logic is as follows: without the IRA, there would be no industry, the country would remain 90% dependent on China, and would never collect tax from that industry. 4/8

With the IRA, strategic independence is made possible because industry comes back, jobs are created, and taxes flow from industry after the scheme expires after 10 years. So it's not really putting together a subsidy budget, it's the government temporarily foregoing taxes… 5/8

…from an industry that hasn't even existed yet, and therefore isn't paying taxes. Let's transfer this to the EU in our minds and assume that the 50 GW will meet the demand of the EU in a few years. According to the IRA model, this would cost about 9.5 billion euros per year. 6/8

For comparison, the EU countries have transferred >90 billion EUR for fossil imports to Russia since the beginning of Russia's invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022 until today (beyond-coal.eu/russian-fossil…). The majority of the purchased oil and gas goes down the chimney, … 7/8

…which is not sustainable, neither for Europe’s energy strategy, the wallet nor for the environment. Shouldn’t Europe consider to transfer the concept from the IRA as well? The European solar industry would scale immediately. @SolarPowerEU @EU_Commission @BMWK @Elysee

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