The big news out of Germany is that the government is considering a cut of 15 percent on the subsidies the state gives to solar-power providers. Indeed, Germany’s Renewable Energy Act mandates annual (if smaller) declines in such subsidies, ostensibly as a means to push the industry toward economic self-sufficiency. (Compare that with U.S. ethanol policy, which mandates increasing amounts of the stuff be blended into our fuel supply each year).
But the real news in this Dow Jones piece appears buried at the bottom — namely, that “the government will extend the life spans of nuclear power plants, postponing the existing policy under which all of Germany’s 17 remaining reactors will have to be shut down by around 2021.” That’s much bigger news than the subsidy story, and a positive development for those interested in generating truly green energy.