Of the approximately 295 million euros of state funding for investments in the energy transition, only 1.7 million euros were allocated to wind energy over the past six years and less than one million euros to geothermal energy, which the federal government also praises. In contrast, 191 million euros, the majority, were allocated to hydrogen projects. This is evident from the response of the Ministry of Economics to a request from the Greens in the Bavarian federal parliament, received by the German Press Agency in Munich. The Free State invested the remaining almost 102 million euros in solar projects, a large part of which was allocated to a battery storage programme that has long since been discontinued.
“This one-sided approach to Bavarian funding policy shows the Söder-Aiwanger government is on the wrong track in the energy transition. As far as geothermal energy is concerned, it is devastating: not a single euro has been spent since the end of 2018,” said Martin Stümpfig, the Greens’ spokesman for energy policy in the regional parliament. This is important for a climate-friendly heat supply. “And there is hardly any support from the state government for wind energy either.”
Hydrogen without wind turbines
As for the money for hydrogen projects such as hydrogen filling stations or electrolysers, Stümpfig does not criticise the overall funding, but rather that in many projects the use of renewable electricity was not a prerequisite for funding: “At the same time, hundreds of millions are being spent on the production and use of hydrogen, while the wind turbines required to produce this hydrogen cannot be built.”
According to Stümpfig, the federal government is showing how it can work to actively promote geothermal energy. Geothermal energy projects in Grünwald and Pullach recently received funding of 60 million euros. “In contrast, the five million euros that the federal government wants to invest in restoring this Bavarian treasure are actually a laughing stock,” says Stümpfig. Overall, the federal government invests very little in renewable energies: 295.3 million euros over the past six years compares to around 500 million euros for road construction in the 2024/2025 budget alone.
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