Germany to invest 137 billion in renewable energy over the next five years

German Chancellor Angela Merkel announced on 30 May that Germany, the world’s fourth-largest economy and Europe’s biggest, would shutter all of its 17 nuclear power plants between 2015 and 2022, an extraordinary commitment, given that they currently produce about 28 percent of the country’s electricity. Underlining the government’s seriousness in changing the country’s energy matrix, Germany’s Kreditanstalt fur Wiederaufbau (German Development Bank) is to underwrite renewable energy and energy efficiency investments in Germany with $137.3 billion over the next five years, Germany Trade and Invest reported. Overall, the German government’s 6th Energy Research Program has made an extraordinary $274.6 billion available for joint funding initiatives in energy storage research over the next three years. It is by any yardstick an extraordinary (and expensive) commitment that may well have the collateral benefit of unlocking similar funding worldwide for renewable energy projects. The new Kreditanstalt fur Wiederaufbau loans and projects are designed to underwrite a broad array of energy areas, including energy efficiency and smart grids, as well as wind and solar energy generation. Last year Kreditanstalt fur Wiederaufbau financed 40 percent of all photovoltaic installations in Germany. Germany is already the world’s strongest photovoltaic market and also accounts for Europe’s largest share of installed wind capacity. Moving resolutely into the field of renewable energy, by 2020, renewable energy sources are expected to account for 35 percent of Germany’s energy output, soaring to 80 percent by 2050. Germany now produces 20 percent of its electricity from renewable energy sources, now, up from just 6 percent in 2000. The effort is in turn creating thousands of jobs and new industries.