“It’s definite — the latest end for the last three nuclear plants is 2022,’’ said Norbert Rottgen, the environment minister.
The announcement, which still faces legislative approval, was applauded by environmentalists and expected to be popular among voters. But it was greeted skeptically around Europe and within Germany’s industrial sector. Some predicted it could harm economic growth, force Germany to import nuclear power from France, or even inflate the cost of energy across the continent.
“The German decision has direct implications for Europe’s energy sector,’’ said Georg Zachmann, an energy specialist at Bruegel, a research institute in Brussels.
For Merkel, the embrace of clean energy represents a transformation based on the politics of the ballot box. Just last year, her center-right coalition forced through an unpopular plan to extend the life of nuclear power plants, with the last to close in 2036. That action inflamed public opinion, but the Fukushima disaster politicized it. The nuclear crisis is widely believed to have caused Merkel’s party to lose control of the German state of Baden-Wurttemberg for the first time in 58 years, in a March election that became a referendum on energy policy.
By yesterday, Merkel said the country must “not let go the chance’’ to end its dependence on nuclear power.
But her ambitious plan will not be easily achieved. The cost of plugging the gap left by the nuclear shutdown is likely to raise power costs, particularly for Germany’s globally competitive industrial sector, which consumes nearly half of the total electricity supply. Germany hopes to have renewable sources provide 35 percent of its electricity by 2020, up from about 13 percent today, and reach 80 percent by 2050. Its efforts will be watched closely, analysts said.
