The head of RWE, Volker Beckers, recently told a conference in London that the German government had a “romantic view of energy” because of its decision to withdraw from nuclear power.

Now the impact of that “romantic” strategy is breaking hearts in the boardrooms of German companies RWE and E.ON.

Both suffered a significant profits drop this month, with RWE chief Juergen Grossmann acknowledging that “the coming years will be difficult for us”, while E.ON’s chief financial officer Marcus Schenck said the company will seek damages in court for losses linked to the nuclear exit.

Angela Merkel’s government has maintained ever since it took the nuclear decision in June that it will be renewables that take up the slack in the country’s future energy mix, and with Germany already one of the wind power world leaders, it’s better placed than most to take that gamble.

But a gamble it nevertheless is. Germany prides itself on its domestic manufacturing prowess, and in turn its position as one of the world’s exporting heavyweights. The undoubted increase in energy costs that will come with a shift to renewables will add to exporting costs. Not good news for any industry in the current economic climate, particularly in the eurozone.

Yet the country is firmly set on this course. Last month Germany’s environment minister Norbert Roettgen said that “renewable energy and energy efficiency are the two pillars of the new energy policy” and the government has said that its renewables share of the energy mix must rise from the current 17 per cent to 35 per cent by 2020 and 80 per cent by 2050.

And critically it has the backing of public opinion. A recent survey found 79 per cent of Germans polled that increased energy tariffs were “reasonable”, with only 15 per cent feeling they were too high.

The eyes of the governments and the energy world – particularly players in nuclear and renewables – will be fixed on Germany in the coming years. Because if its blueprint for change works, it will set a pattern around Europe that in time will feed out to the rest of the world.