A study on "subsidies and costs of EU energy" in the European Union (EU) estimates that the total value of public interventions in energy (any intervention in the energy market by public actors such as national and regional Governments that influences market price, excluding transport) in the 28 member countries of the EU were between €120bn and €140bn in 2012. The bulk of the public interventions consisted in renewable energy support, mainly solar (€14.7bn), onshore wind (€10.1bn), biomass (€8.3bn) and hydropower (€5.2bn). Among conventional power generation technologies, coal received the largest amount in current subsidies in 2012 with €10.1bn, followed by nuclear (€7bn) and natural gas (about €5.2bn). About 70% of all support was provided to energy production and nearly 1/3 to energy demand. Total energy support in the EU-28 (including EU level support) was €99bn in 2012, excluding the free allocation of emission allowance units (EAUs) under the EU ETS; the inclusion of freely allocated EAUs would result in a total support level of €113bn. A significant part of energy support in 2012 was provided in Germany (€25bn), followed by United
Kingdom (€13bn), Italy and Spain. EU level support to energy in 2012 added up to €12bn.
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