London — Germany's energy research budget for 2018 to 2022 will be Eur6.4 billion ($7.5 billion), a 45% boost from the previous budget (2013-2017), the federal government said Wednesday after approving the budget.
Germany already invested some Eur12 billion into non-nuclear energy research over the past 40 years as the government steers a fundamental reform of the energy landscape including phase-outs for nuclear and coal towards a 2050 decarbonization target.
Renewable energies and energy efficiency will be the main focus for energy research under the new program, it said.
"Digitalisation and sector-coupling are key for a successful energy transformation with new innovations enabling progress not only in the power sector, but also the heating sector," energy and economy minister Peter Altmaier said in the statement.
Other areas of research supported by the German government include synthetic fuels, bioenenergy, electro-mobility and grid development.
