Energy & Science

Germany Paid Record $38 Billion for Green Power Growth in 2020

Wind, solar subsidies rose amid mounting Covid-19 costs
Renewables support funded by charges in consumer power bills

Wind turbines at a wind farm during sunset in Nauen Brandenburg, Germany, on Wednesday, Dec. 30, 2020. It was a pivotal year in the transition toward renewable energy, underpinned by massive government spending pledges and corporations working to burnish their environmental, social and governance credentials.Photographer: Liesa Johannssen-Koppitz/Bloomberg

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By Brian Parkin

January 12, 2021 at 4:02 PM UTC

This article is for subscribers only.

Germany paid a record sum to foster green electricity last year as new wind, solar and biomass plants weathered the worst of the coronavirus crisis afflicting other sections of the economy.

The rising costs of supporting renewables has become a friction point as the nation struggles with Covid-19. The subsidy is paid directly by consumers in electricity bills, helping make German retail power costs the highest across the European continent.