As it phases out nuclear power in wake of public outcry, Germany to make largest investment since World War II

Common Dreams

Spurred by a public outcry following the Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan, Germany’s Prime Minister, Angela Merkel, announced last year that Germany would phase out all of its nuclear power plants. Now, with a looming 20% energy gap to fill, the European nation plans to follow on its early leadership in the green energy sector with an unprecedented investment in alternative and renewable sources, including wind and solar.

Germany’s plan is seen by some as an economic gamble, but many traditional energy companies — including nuclear power companies — are now lining up to invest in the strategic plan. One financial and energy analyst observed the plan would would make Germany’s energy market, the most important in Europe, “into a massive energy laboratory.”(Photographer: Ken James/Bloomberg) The program will cost 200 billion euros ($263 billion), about 8 percent of the country’s gross domestic product in 2011, according to the DIW economic institute in Berlin. And Bloomberg News reports that, “Not since the allies leveled Germany in World War II has Europe’s biggest economy undertaken a reconstruction of its energy market on this scale.”

Germany’s plan is seen by some as an economic gamble, but many traditional energy companies — including nuclear power companies — are now lining up to invest in the strategic plan. One financial and energy analyst observed the plan would would make Germany’s energy market, the most important in Europe, “into a massive energy laboratory.”

And though Germany’s plan to phase-out of nuclear energy assumes some reliance on natural gas, the plan is a firm commitment to reach an energy economy fueled 80% by renewables, or higher.

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