The World from BerlinMerkel Faces 'Herculean' Task on Green Energy

DPA

Trouble on the horizon: Angela Merkel's clean energy revolution isn't moving as quickly as she had hoped.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel held a summit Wednesday to review the lack of progress in the country's dramatic nuclear phaseout and shift to renewable energies. On the editorial pages, many commentators are critical of government policies that have caused electricity prices to soar.

As last year's Fukushima nuclear disaster began to unfold, German Chancellor Angela Merkel responded to the catastrophe by announcing nothing short of anenergy revolution in Germany. By 2022, the chancellor said, the country would decommission all of its nuclear power plants, and by 2050, 80 percent of all energy in the country should come from renewable sources. It was a plan that heralded an era of offshore wind farms, solar panels and wind turbines across large parts of the country and pumped-storage hydroelectric plants that would ensure a constant flow of electricity even when the wind isn't blowing and the sun isn't shining
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