Rainer Hinrichs-Rahlwes

Rainer Hinrichs-Rahlwes (*1954, Germany) is currently the President of the European Renewable Energy Council (EREC), the Brussels based umbrella organisation of the European renewable energy sector. He is the President of EREC's member association, the European Renewable Energies Federation (EREF), the voice of independent producers of energy from renewable sources, and he is a Board Member and the spokesperson for European and International Affairs of the German Renewable Energy Federation ...See more

Rainer Hinrichs-Rahlwes (*1954, Germany) is currently the President of the European Renewable Energy Council (EREC), the Brussels based umbrella organisation of the European renewable energy sector. He is the President of EREC's member association, the European Renewable Energies Federation (EREF), the voice of independent producers of energy from renewable sources, and he is a Board Member and the spokesperson for European and International Affairs of the German Renewable Energy Federation (BEE), the national umbrella orginsation of the renewable energy sector. He is closely engaged in European policy development for renewable energies in the European Union as well as in his home country, keeping close contacts with government representatives, parliamentarians, European Commission and other stakeholders. He is convinced that a complete shift of our energy system to renewable energy is necessary for the sake of energy security and climate protection and that it is technically and economically feasible - much faster and less costly than supporters and beneficiaries of conventional and nuclear energy are trying to make believe. Rainer Hinrichs-Rahlwes has delivered speeches and presentations and participated in panel discussions all over the world - on behalf of the organisations he is representing or advising, and as an independent consultant providing policy advice and knowledge about sustainable renewable energy development and policies for scaling up renewables on local, national, regional and global level in order to facilitate their becoming the mainstream energy sources already in the near future. Representing EREC he is a member of the Renewable Energy Industry Advisory Board (RIAB) of the International Energy Agency (IEA) and a member of the Steering Committee of the global Renewable Energy Policy Network for the 21st Century (REN21) with headquarters in Paris (France), which was founded as an outcome of the first "International Renewable Energy Conference" (IREC), the renewables2004-conference in Bonn. He is also a member of the WREN-Council, the advisory structure of theWorld Renewable Energy Network/Congress. Before engaging with the renewable energy sector in Germany and in Europe, from November 1998 to December 2005, Rainer Hinrichs-Rahlwes was a Director General in the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU), in charge of renewable energies, climate protection and various other dossiers. As a representative of BMU, he was one of the two chairmen of the International Steering Committee preparing the first IREC, the renewables2004 in Bonn. After the conference, until he left the ministry at the end of 2005, he served as BMU's representative and a founding co-chair and later a member of the Bureau of the Global Policy Network, now known as REN21. Christine Lins was appointed as Executive Secretary of REN21, the Renewable Energy Policy Network of the 21st Century, in July 2011. REN21 is a global public-private multi-stakeholder network on renewable energy regrouping international organizations, governments, industry associations, science and academia as well as NGOs working in the field of renewable energy. REN21 has its headquarters at UNEP, the United Nations Environment Programme in Paris/France. Between 2001 and 2011, she served as Secretary General of the European Renewable Energy Council, the united voice of Europe's renewable energy industry. She has more than 17 years of working experience in the field of renewable energy sources. Previously, she worked in a regional energy agency in Austria promoting energy efficiency and renewable energy sources. Christine Lins holds a Masters degree in international economics... See less