The signing of the loan agreements in February 2013 during
which more than 1,000 documents had to be signed by ail the
parties, once again became a race against time due to the vacillating energy policy pursued by the then fédéral government [see
Chapter "Desire and Reality"]. At the beginning of 2013, Fédéral
Minister for the Environment, Peter Altmaier [CDU] launched his
idea of an electricity price cap in Berlin by which he wanted to limit the costs of subsidising renewable energies which in his view
were spiralling out of control. Besides a réduction, his proposai
also provided for a rétrospective eut in the feed-in rémunération
guaranteed by the Renewable Energies Act [EEG].
With this move, Altmaier was shaking the foundations of the EEG
which quickly led to a noticeable level of uncertainty in the renewable energies industry and the banks financing it. It was only
a few weeks later that Chancellor Angela Merkel personaIly threw
out Altmaier's idea. It is not hard to imagine the rumours that
were flying around Berlin in the meantime. "We were happy that
we had signed ail the contracts before Peter Altmaier went public
with his proposai", says Achim Berge Olsen still sounding relieved
today as he looks back. He does not wantto think about the effect
an electricity price cap would hâve had on the Butendiek project.
148
which more than 1,000 documents had to be signed by ail the
parties, once again became a race against time due to the vacillating energy policy pursued by the then fédéral government [see
Chapter "Desire and Reality"]. At the beginning of 2013, Fédéral
Minister for the Environment, Peter Altmaier [CDU] launched his
idea of an electricity price cap in Berlin by which he wanted to limit the costs of subsidising renewable energies which in his view
were spiralling out of control. Besides a réduction, his proposai
also provided for a rétrospective eut in the feed-in rémunération
guaranteed by the Renewable Energies Act [EEG].
With this move, Altmaier was shaking the foundations of the EEG
which quickly led to a noticeable level of uncertainty in the renewable energies industry and the banks financing it. It was only
a few weeks later that Chancellor Angela Merkel personaIly threw
out Altmaier's idea. It is not hard to imagine the rumours that
were flying around Berlin in the meantime. "We were happy that
we had signed ail the contracts before Peter Altmaier went public
with his proposai", says Achim Berge Olsen still sounding relieved
today as he looks back. He does not wantto think about the effect
an electricity price cap would hâve had on the Butendiek project.
148