The last nuclear power plants in Germany were closed three years ago. The government is charting a path for a revival, but with an alternative type of technology. Chancellor Friedrich Merz claimed nuclear fusion would introduce electricity so cheap that it would replace wind power within thirty years.

The participants in this week’s North Sea Summit in Hamburg committed to building 15 GW of offshore wind per year over 2031-2040. Country leaders including German Chancellor Friedrich Merz confirmed the goal of 300 GW on the so-called North Seas by 2050. At the same time, he apparently believes that wind turbines will begin to be dismantled much sooner!

Wind power is a “transitional technology” and it will be around for “ten, twenty, maybe thirty years,” Merz claimed, as quoted by Bild. He expressed confidence that Germany would put the world’s first fusion reactor online and estimated it would make electricity so cheap that no other generation methods would be needed.

Merz said repeatedly that the nuclear exit was a mistake

The country abandoned investments in nuclear power after the 2011 Fukushima disaster and prompted early closure of all reactors. Causing much controversy, especially during the recent energy crisis, the phaseout was completed in 2023.

In the campaign before last year’s elections, Merz called wind turbines ugly, adding that he’d like if they could eventually be taken down. He recently said the nuclear exit was a “huge strategic mistake” that caused “the most expensive energy transition in the entire world...”