Why renewable energy expansion could have been cheaper

Promoting renewable energies would cost an average household no more than a scoop of ice cream a month, or a maximum of 50 cents: that was the promise made by then Federal Environment Minister Jürgen Trittin (Greens) in 2004. Four years earlier, the Renewable Energy Sources Act ( EEG ) had come into force. Even today, it guarantees owners of solar systems a grid connection and a fixed price when they feed their green electricity into the general power grid. This means they can count on stable returns for 20 years from a virtually risk-free investment. 25 years later, the expansion of renewable energies is considered a success story, partly and precisely because of the EEG. But the progress came at a high price – and new research shows it could probably have been achieved with significantly less government spending.