ABSTRACT
Germany plans to close its nuclear reactors by 2022 after the Fukushima disaster in Japan raised serious safety concerns. The government will promote energy from wind turbines and solar panels with the additional cost financed by higher energy bills. It plans to boost the renewable energy output from 17% in 2010 to 35% in 2020. Wind turbines contributed 6.2% of the total power in Germany in 2010, while nuclear power accounted for 23%. Germany had an onshore wind power generation capacity of 27.2 GW in 2010 and additional capacity on many large offshore wind farms.
