The new Minister of Economic Affairs wants to see more gas-fired power plants as soon as possible.

The Green Party is warning the new federal government against hesitating in the expansion of renewable energies. Wind and solar energy will make Germany more independent, parliamentary group deputy Julia Verlinden told the German Press Agency. If the federal government slackens in this area, it will be expensive – "in the form of blackmail from autocratic states, rising CO2 prices, and climate-related costs."

The new Federal Minister of Economics, Katherina Reiche (CDU), had announced a rapid expansion of new gas-fired power plants to strengthen security of supply. A reality check of the energy transition was necessary, as the expansion of renewable energies had also resulted in costs, for example, for grid expansion and grid bottlenecks. "We need some kind of monitoring and an honest assessment of the status of the energy transition."

Verlinden emphasized that electricity generation costs for renewables are significantly lower than those for new fossil-fuel power plants. At the same time, she welcomed Reiche's ruling out a return to nuclear power. "Better late than never, the CDU/CSU seems to have accepted that expensive and risky nuclear energy is a thing of the past in Germany," Verlinden said.

Reiche had emphasized that the opportunity for a return to nuclear power had been missed during the energy crisis and that "we have to live with the situation now."