German Chancellor Angela Merkel defended Saturday her plans to grant a longer legal lifetime to nuclear power, saying it would fund investment in renewable energy technology, dpa reported.
In her weekly video message to Germans, she said it would require more than 20 billion euros (28 billion dollars) per year to build up renewables.
"The state will contribute. But the nuclear power station operators will contribute too by giving up part of their profits from the extension of nuclear running times," she said.
Merkel spoke as anti-nuclear groups prepared to ramp up protests against the nuclear life extensions announced three weeks ago. The legislation on the change is to be put through parliament in the coming week.
The 17 German reactors will be granted an average of 12 additional years under sunset legislation that sets limits on their working lives. Before the policy change, the reactors had been expected to mostly cease operations by 2022.
Germany says it will have to rebuild its power grid to route power from offshore wind turbines to the main population centres.