German industry gets new energy subsidies

Originally published at Europe in Review on December, 2023

German Finance Minister Christian Lindner announced EUR 83.3 billion will be spent to offset gas and district heating in 2024, as well as offset the economic rescue of German utility Uniper SE, the country’s largest natural gas importer. [Bloomberg]

German Economy Minister Robert Habeck announced EUR 28 billion in electricity tax breaks for German industry to offset natural gas price increases through 2027, from Euro 15.37 per kilowatt hour (kWh) to Euro Cent 50 per kWh, sending industrial stocks soaring. [Bloomberg]

The German government further announced EUR 7.5 billion in loan guarantees for Siemens Energy to primarily offset losses stemming from its takeover of Spanish wind energy leader Gamesa. [Reuters]

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni signed a joint agreement on November 23 to repurpose existing natural gas pipelines, transforming them into a hydrogen pipeline system across the Alps and Mediterranean connecting Germany, Switzerland, and Italy to Tunisia. [Euractiv]

Tunisia plans to produce over eight million tons of hydrogen per year, mainly for export to Europe, by 2050 and to produce 4 million tons annually by 2030.

(rw/gc)