In July, the upper house of Germany’s national parliament passed a new renewable energy law. The law is designed to help the nation to move away from nuclear power and reliance of fossil fuels. The law went into effect on August 1, 2014. This decision comes at the end of tense negotiations that have lasted months in parliament.
In the past several years, Germany has created and maintained regulations for renewable energy producers and users, including subsidies and monetary incentives for using renewable energy. These policies have been effective in incentivizing Germans to use renewable energy, but have resulted in a major production boom in green energy. This resulted in higher prices for power for many businesses and individual consumers. This new law adjusts subsidies for renewable energy plants and prices for power so that subsidies are spread more equally among various businesses.
This law is motivated by fear that rising prices for power could have a damaging effect on Germany’s strong industrial sector.
