Penza, 14 September 2017. PenzaNews. Ellen von Zitzevitz, adviser of the Economy and Science Department of German Embassy in Russia, gave a lecture in the English language on the topic "Current issues of environmental protection and energy conservation policy in Germany" at the 5th Flensburg-Penza Congress, which continues its work in Penza State University.

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The diplomat started her report, which was accompanied by a translation, explaining the term "Energiewende". It means the Germany's policy of gradual refusal of hydrocarbon and nuclear energy and almost complete conversion of the country to renewable resources.

"It is likely that in favourable circumstances the term will enter the Russian language. The fundamental foundations of the project are represented by two things: creation and introduction of renewable energy resources and their more efficient use," Ellen von Zitzevitz noted.

According to her, one of the most important aspects of the idea is a competent system of alternative resources' integration into the common resource market.

"The second area of activity is energy research. [...] In Germany much attention is given to applied researches, which are conducted in collaboration with energy companies," the embassy's adviser explained.

She noted that introduction of hybrid vehicles and electric cars as well as modernisation of networks were other important areas of the policy.

"About 35% of all energy produced in Germany comes from renewable resources. About 330,000 people received a job in the area," the diplomat specified.

Ellen von Zitzevitz suggested that in Russia conversion to renewable resources of energy could be effective in agriculture-oriented regions since in Germany farmers managed to provide enough electricity for their own consumption and even to sell its surplus simply by using wind-powered generators in the fields.

In addition, she drew attention to the fact that the number of electric cars was increasing in Berlin, which happened also due to various methods of motivating workers in companies.

The diplomat noted that all countries could be roughly divided into three groups — about 170 countries cooperate with each other on the issues of conversion to alternative sources of energy, others are interested observers and the rest find more disadvantages than advantages in such a strategy.

"I am happy that from the category of sceptics Russia is gradually moving towards the states that are interested in the policy," Ellen von Zitzevitz said.

According to her, large investments are being made in projects for transition to renewable energy sources around the world: at the moment China occupies the first position by the volume of the investments.

The embassy's advisor expressed hope that in the next 2-3 years more money will be allocated for this purpose in Russia and the country will achieve significant success.

"There is a goal to reach the level of 4.5% of energy from renewable resources up to 2020-2022. [...] There are many obstacles to the development of this sphere. For example, in the Ulyanovsk region, the company built a wind-driven power-plant, which cost about twice as much as in Finland," Ellen von Zitzevitz said.

At the end of the lecture, she answered questions from listeners, many of whom were students. In particular, some of them were interested to know who invested in the sphere of alternative energy sources abroad.

The diplomat reported that in Germany 95% of the investments came from companies, the remaining 5% were the state expenditures on conducting the researches.

Responding to a question from another listener, Ellen von Zitzevitz explained that the payback period of wind-powered generators was about five years, but after that, they hardly required additional investments for about 20 more years.

At the end of the meeting, the embassy's adviser recommended that Penza students learn German and come to Germany to study the practise of alternative energy production in order to introduce the advanced technologies in Russia.