DS Consulting GmbH

Creating New Energy Assets

We specialize in advising governments on the attraction of international investment for renewable energy projects. We do this by bringing our clients into contact with technology partners and investors which are seeking opportunities. Our experience and network guarantees success.

DS Consulting GmbH

DS Consulting, founded in southern Germany in 2000, is a specialist FDI consultancy. We assist governments and other organizations achieve their economic development and climate change goals by the implementation of renewable energy projects.

Our clients: Governments, Corporates, Financial Investors

Our role: to facilitate the creation of new energy assets

Our services: Strategy Consulting, Business Development, Funding Facilitation

Our experience: 20+ years of business development in a British-German context

Our network: a Germany-focused network of clients, partners and contacts

The company head office is located in Munich, Bavaria with a branch office in Düsseldorf, North Rhine Westphalia.

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Renewable energy in Germany

Germany is a world leader in most renewable energy technologies including solar, wind andbiomass. A traditionally strong manufacturing base in combination with high investment in

R&Dand consistent government policies over the last 20 years – a FiT since 2000 - has created anindustry which employs over 350,000 directly and generates 16% of national electricity

demand.

The contrast with the UK situation is striking:

Germany has a total of 26GW (UK-4GW) of installed wind capacity which provides 7% of electricity.

Installed photovoltaic in Germany is c.15,000MW (UK-50MW) with 3GW installed in first six months of 2010

Over 4000 biogas plants installed in Germany (UK-47)

In 2009 7% of Germany’s heating requirements were met by renewable energies (UK-1%) with, for example, 125,000 private wood pellet heating systems installed

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German renewable energy companies

Throughout the 1990‘s many German engineering and automotive companies converted tothe manufacture of wind turbine components. In solar and biogas new companies emerged in

thelast decade. And over the last 5 years companies from all of these sectors have expanded internationally to develop projects in Europe and beyond.

Examples are: Nordex, Enercon, Conergy, Q-Cells, Centrosolar, juwi, Biogas Nord

Markets for PV companies: Germany – degression now coming in to aggressively cut the industrial scale projects Italy – now seen by most German investors as increasingly problematic Spain – reduced to minor market France – sudden reductions of tariffs Eastern Europe – most countries seeing reductions or freezing of tariffs or are politically

unstable North America, Asia – only for the bigger players UK? Ireland?

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UK and Ireland as a market for German investment

The UK and Ireland are traditionally attractive and popular markets for German investors. Asinward investors, across a wide range of sectors, companies usually make long termcommitments characterized by steady expansion and job creation. The UK commercial propertymarket is also seen as professional, stable and providing good returns. However, the lack ofcoherent government policy supporting the development of alternative energies has largelydeterred investment in this sector from Germany until now. 2 new factors are creating the right conditions:

  In April 2010 the UK feed-in tariff was introduced. This is a well-established mechanism (over

50 tariff systems worldwide) for guaranteeing reasonable returns. The first FiT was introduced in Germany in 2000 and is the main driver for development of the market - €20 billion invested in the German RE industry in 2009. Other initiatives eg ROCs, RHI, Green Bank and the ambitious British climate change targets are also encouraging the investor’s view that the UK market is de-risking and needs German technology.

German institutional and private investors have been used to generating steady returns and RE companies are accustomed to growth. But markets on the Continent are drying up and most of these players are too small for business development beyond Europe. The UK and Ireland is the last big market in Europe offering significant growth potential.

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Opportunities for UK and Irish communities

Creating renewable energy assets is now the quickest and easiest way for a local authority togenerate much-needed revenue, to meet climate change targets and to create jobs.In the longer term these technologies and project development capabilities will become embedded in the local economy to create long term wealth for the community.

There is no need to re-invent the wheel: Proven technologies  -  When the experience of German manufacturers and project

developers is applied to projects in the UK and Ireland the risk is thereby reduced and quality is enhanced for financial investors.

Communities – Public sector organisations and utilities in Germany have enabled their communities to benefit from the creation of new energy assets. These models (eg PV on roofs of public buildings) will also work in the UK and Ireland.

Finance – Solar funds and other investment vehicles have been raising equity which is now looking for a home. And the “Landesbanken” based in London will provide debt finance for projects involving German technology.

There is an opportunity for LAs to benefit from German experience and funding toaccelerate the process of creating renewable energy assets in their regions. Howeverprojects must be made attractive and accessible in order to compete for the limitedcapacity available at the quality end of the service provider and funding markets.

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Our services

We have long term experience of inward investment lead generation on behalf of foreign IPAs in

the German-speaking markets. Over the last 5 years our focus has been on the renewable energy industry and we have built up substantial knowhow and an extensive contact base.

As the processes for cross-border investing have become increasingly complex and varied (no more greenfield investments!) we have developed additional services for our clients.

Our services to public sector clients creating new energy assets are:

Strategy Consulting– we work with our clients to develop and shape investment propositions to ensure that these are attractive for German corporates and funders to develop the projects.

Business Development – We take the propositions to market and identify suitable partners for the implementation of renewable energy projects. These include engineering design consultancies, project developers and equipment suppliers.

Funding Facilitation– we facilitate access to equity and debt providers from Germany

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Clients

DS Consulting has worked with a wide range of public and private sector clients and

partners over the last decade.

Our clients include: • Stockholm• Houston• Nokia Corporation• Locate in Kent (UK)• NRW.INVEST (Germany)• Bochum Region (Germany)• Scottish Widows Investment Partners• NRW Ministry of Economic Affairs and Energy (Germany)• Pennsylvania Center for Direct Investment• East Midlands Development Agency (UK)• Bavarian State Chancellery (Germany)• Invest in Bavaria (Germany)• Scottish Enterprise (UK)• Bank of Scotland• BASF AG

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DS Consulting GmbH – contact usMunich Office Düsseldorf Office

Mangstraße 29 Heidekrautweg 6

80997 Munich 47807 Krefeld/DüsseldorfGermany

Tel: +49 (0)89 8180 2982 Tel: +49 (0)2151 6199 744Fax: +49 (0)89 8180 2981 Email: rt@dsconsulting.de E-Mail: ds@dsconsulting.de web: www.dsconsulting.de

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