Module manufacturers are struggling with cost structures, following the recent, drastic, decline of margins in the PV industry. Special attention is drawn to their supply chains, since 80 to 90 percent of the total costs are allocated there. The supply chain setup of European, American and Asian manufacturers differs substantially, however, resulting in differences in inventories, inventory carrying costs, and costs for production and transportation, for example.

Offshore wind report shows: infrastructure and logistics know-how need to develop significantly to ensure the turnaround towards renewable energy production

The plan of the German government to increase renewable energy pro-duction includes the goal of a production capacity from offshore wind parks of 10 gigawatts until 2020 to replace the national nuclear power production. Currently there is a capacity of less than 0.5 gigawatts in place.

The global economy is booming. The world economic outlook issued by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in April this year reports a global economic growth rate of 4.4% for 2011 and 4.5% for 2012. This development is not only driven by the uprising economies in Asia. Also the mature western industry nations like Germany and the United States show significant after crisis growth rates.

Along with this market development the global trade is increasing.

During their meeting in Seoul (South Korea) mid of November, the governments of the leading G20 industry nations agreed on new regulations to secure global capital standards. In future the so called Basel III rules will require banks to hold greater capital buffers to absorb potential losses.