DW-TV: Are the winds changing for renewable energy companies? Does green energy come out of your power sockets at home?

Thomas Ilka: I don't know, because I don't have built-in energy mix at home. Out of my power sockets comes the cheapest I could afford because I have five kids and I have to look for where my money goes.

DW-TV: Yeah, that's an expensive proposition there with 5 children. Can you understand though when a lot of people say that they don't want to go the green route with energy at home because it's simply more expensive than conventional energy sources.

Thomas Ilka: What I appreciate is that you have the choice in Germany to do so. That's a good thing and people do have the choice and they make those choices.

DW-TV: Let's talk a little bit about the choices here in Germany. We've got a graph that we want to show people about how the energy is mixed up here in Germany. The largest source remains the oldest source, coal, about 43 percent, followed by nuclear energy, and then way down on the list you see renewables and natural gas. Now, Politicians say they want to reverse those numbers and make renewable energies the MAIN source of electricity of energy here in Germany. We've got a new government in Germany and they've been very vague about a time plan for that. Is it possible to generate a time plan for making renewables the main source?

Thomas Ilka: Well in energy policy, you count by decades and that's also true for the development of the energy mix. You have quoted the numbers and they show that renewables have their part but it needs a lot of time to push them to a more, a greater part in the energy mix.

DW-TV: Is that why the German government is saying we want to keep nuclear power longer than was planned by the previous government?

Thomas Ilka: This is sort of buying time to do so. So if I was a renewable supporter, I won't fear that. This makes the energy mix broader and gives more chances to the development.

DW-TV: So you say nuclear power is not a threat to the development of renewables?

Thomas Ilka: No. We need them all. I mean if you look at the discussion on the climate summit in Copenhagen which we will have in a few weeks time there are so many countries which rely on both, on nuclear and on renewables and of course on the third pillar on coal. As I said we need them all and to fulfil all these targets we are shooting at.

DW-TV: The United States now is putting a lot of money and investments into wind, renewable energies. Is it going to take an economic giant like the United States to really push in the renewables before renewables can become self sufficient and no longer need government subsidies?

Thomas Ilka: That is, of course, a good development to reduce the amount of subsidies you need and if the US goes more of the way Europe has done in the past, there can be a reliable market for that.

DW-TV: Do you think that German companies, which have actually developed some of the green technology that we are seeing around the world are they banking on the US to go full green?

Thomas Ilka: Yes, of course they do. The US is a big market and there's a lot of chances for German companies to take part in this development.

DW-TV: Do you think the German government is planning on that too, let the Americans subsidize what we have already been subsidizing for a decade?

Thomas Ilka: What we already do is helping German business to put a foot in the market in the US. That is what we do and that is a good way.

Interview: Brent Geoff