Successful promotion of innovations for the energy transition

Research and development play a central role in the success of the energy transition. This involves technological innovations, new business models and also how the far-reaching restructuring of the energy system can succeed in interaction with people and society as a whole. The guidelines for the funding provided by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWE) are set out in the Energy Research Programme.

Funding from the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action in 2023

In 2022, the BMWK invested around 599 million Euro in funding for 5,482 ongoing non-nuclear energy research projects as part of the 7th Energy Research Programme. The ministry supported small and medium sized companies with 122 million Euro.

Transparency in the use of subsidies

The EnArgus information system

The public Internet portal to the EnArgus database provides you with a daily updated insight into ongoing and completed energy research projects in the Federal Republic of Germany since 1977 – research topics and project durations, partners involved and funding utilized. The database provides up-to-date data on research projects. Find out more about individual projects or get an overview.

To access the EnArgus information system directly, please click here.

The Federal Report on Energy Research

EnArgus forms the basis for the Federal Report on Energy Research. The Federal Report not only presents the progress made in the 7th Energy Research Programme and makes the use of funding in the respective reporting year transparent. It also presents selected highlights of project funding. It also summarises the expenditure of the federal states and EU research policy in the field of energy.

From the current Federal Energy Research Report 2023:

In 2023, the German government provided around 1.46 billion Euro to fund research, development and demonstration of energy and efficiency technologies and corresponding applications. More than half of this funding volume was spent by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action.

1.08 billion Euro was allocated to project funding. In 2023, the federal ministries involved supported a total of 7,570 ongoing research, development and demonstration projects with taxpayers' money and approved 1,796 new projects. 325 million Euro were invested in institutional funding for the Helmholtz Association of German Research Centers' Energy research field.

Click here to go directly to the current Federal Report (reporting year 2024).

Funding for energy research at a glance: