More than half of Germany's renewable energy generations is owned by its citzens

In 2010, 51% of the more than 50,000 MW of renewable energy capacity in Germany was owned by farmers or individual citizens. This represents a staggering $100 billion in private investment. German farmers alone have installed 1,600 MW of biogas plants and 3,600 MW of solar photovoltaics (solar PV). For comparison, in 2010 there was only 60 MW of biogas plants and 2,200 MW of solar PV in the entire USA. Thanks to passage of the feed-in tarrif law, farmers, individuals and community groups could, for the first time install their own wind turbines and sell the resulting electricity for profit.