Wind power blow as Germans stay nuclear

Renewable energy industries in Germany are set for a double blow as the new government plans to increase the life of nuclear power stations while reducing subsidies for wind and solar farms.

"Experts warn the nuclear power comeback will retard the development of expensive wind power plants for years and cost jobs," warned news magazine Der Spiegel this week.

Leaked documents of talks between Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservative CDU party and her junior partner in power, the FDP, show they intend to overturn a law passed in 2002 by the Social Democrats scrapping nuclear power by 2020.

"Atomic energy will be required as a bridge technology until affordable, climate-friendly energy sources are reliably available in sufficient quantities. The limit on German reactor lifetimes to 32 years is thus rescinded," reads the paper.

Companies like E.on and RWE are reportedly rowing back in Germany on their committment to wind power as the extension of nuclear power will soon become law.

They stand to make billions in extra profits as a result of extended reactor lifetimes.

Merkel's conservatives and the FDP also want to resume research into the suitability of the Gorleben salt mines as a nuclear waste repository.