Germany's planned nuclear switch-off drives energy innovation

While Britain visualises a nuclear future, Angela Merkel's aim of replacing it with renewables by 2022 is well under way

Hinkley Point will be the first nuclear power plant to be built in Europe since the meltdown of Japan's Fukushima reactor in 2011. But while the British government sees nuclear energy as a safe and reliable source of power, Germany is going in a different direction.

As a result of the Fukushima, Chancellor Angela Merkel pledged to switch off all nuclear power by 2022 and fill the gap with renewables - a process known as the energiewende (energy transition).