Germany increases energy transition research funds to €1.5 billion

The German government spent around 1.5 billion euros on energy transition research in 2022, an increase of 13 percent compared to the previous year, said the economy ministry. “This shows how important energy research is for a forward-looking, climate-friendly energy policy and for maintaining security of supply,” the government said in its annual energy research report. “In 2022, the focus was primarily on government research funding for hydrogen and for a sustainable heat supply.” Around 1.1 billion euros went towards 7,365 research, development and demonstration projects, and around 320 million euros to institutional funding for energy research at the Helmholtz research centre association. The government also approved 1,661 new projects for funding last year.

Germany’s energy transition research programme is led by the economics and climate ministry (BMWK) with participation of the education and research (BMBF) in basic research, the agriculture ministry (BMEL) in the area of bioenergy, and the environment ministry (BMUV) for nuclear safety research. The programme covers the entire innovation cycle; from initial basic research to the testing of modern energy technologies shortly before they are ready for the market.

Examples of 2022 funding highlighted by the economy ministry include research on generating green hydrogen at sea using offshore wind turbines; a project dedicated to the efficient use of heat pumps, heat transfer and ventilation systems in refurbished apartment buildings; research on citizen participation in wind farms; as well as on the accelerated transfer of the next generation of solar cells into mass production.