OilPrice.com: “In 2011, after the Fukushima disaster in Japan, Angela Merkel, the Chancellor of Germany, made the surprise decision of scrapping nuclear power in order to focus on renewable energy sources. This move placed huge pressure on the country’s energy sector and raised questions as to how this new clean energy drive would be financed.”

“The answer was subsidies. Germany set up schemes that offered generous subsidies to encourage the development of renewable energy installations. Now, just three years later, and in part due to the soaring costs, Germany’s new energy minister, Sigmar Gabriel, has outlined a new plan to cut subsidies offered to producers of renewable energy.”