Germany aims to double the share of renewables in the national energy mix by 2010.

"According to Mueller's report, climate protection measures, such as the use of renewables, will lead to a big burden on the economy and to incalculable risks for German firms, but the opposite is the case," renewables and solar groups BEE and UVS said in a statement.

"The renewables sector - solar, wind, hydro and biomass - had a turnover last year of 12.6 billion marks and created 120,000 jobs," they added.

Germany is the world leader in wind energy use, with almost 7,000 megawatts of installed capacity. The sector had a turnover in 2000 of five billion marks, up 22 percent on 1999.

Wind capacity is expected to triple in the next few years, while the solar sector forecasts double-digit growth annually.

"Technology export opportunities are at risk if the significance of renewable energy is underestimated in its own country," the associations said.

The additional costs of renewables according to the EEG total just 0.3 pfennigs/kilowatt hour (pf/kWh), they added, and will amount to 0.38 pf/kWh in 2010 if the 12 percent target share in the total national energy mix is reached.

They said the cost of supporting renewables totalled 2.3 billion marks last year, which contrasts with the 100 billion marks that supported the nuclear industry.

Mueller omitted these nuclear costs in his report, they said, as well as the external costs of conventional fuels, which the European Union estimates at five eurocents/kWh.

BEE and UVS added that energy companies had abused the EEG as a excuse to increase electricity prices by an average of 1-1.5 pf/kWh in 2000, amounting to a total four billion mark burden to the economy and consumers.