Germany’s alternative energy fiasco

Foggy Germany, with little sun, has five times the solar energy capacity of Spain.

When Chancellor Angela Merkel’s new coalition finally emerges with a government program, it will likely cut back the aggressive subsidies that have fueled rocketing solar and wind production, turning the country into a goliath of renewable energy. Germany’s ‘Energiewende’ (Energy Turnaround) is under fire for penalizing consumers, imperiling utilities, undermining energy security and failing to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. “The Energiewende is a total disaster,” said Justus Haucap, Director of the Düsseldorf Institute for Competition Economics (DICE) and member of Germany’s Monopolies Commission. Energy policy is among program points being hammered out in Berlin. The energy policy is being discussed in Berlin. “No agreement has been reached, but in the future support for renewable energies will be market based,” said Haucap.