Essay by Eric Worrall
h/t observa; How is that wind and solar working for you Germany? Just under half a trillion US dollars of government subsidies and counting, to make Germany’s broken energy system affordable for end users.
Germany’s half-a-trillion dollar energy bazooka may not be enough
Story by By Christoph Steitz
FRANKFURT (Reuters) – Germany is bleeding cash to keep the lights on. Almost half a trillion dollars, and counting, since the Ukraine war jolted it into an energy crisis nine months ago.
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And it may not be enough.
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“The national economy as a whole is facing a huge loss of wealth.”
The money set aside stands at up to 440 billion euros ($465 billion), according to the calculations, which provide the first combined tally of all of Germany’s drives aimed at avoiding running out of power and securing new sources of energy.
That equates to about 1.5 billion euros a day since Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24. Or around 12% of national economic output. Or about 5,400 euros for each person in Germany.
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Germany wants renewables to account for at least 80% of electricity production by 2030, up from 42% in 2021. At recent rates of expansion, though, that remains a remote goal.
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Germany’s only hope of saving their economy from utter ruin is to restore supplies of Russian gas as quickly as possible, so Germany can return to play acting they are on track towards a green energy future. I hope Ukraine isn’t sharing too many important military secrets with their German allies.
