hence total system costs are higher and alternative arrangements induced by public intervention which may just be confined to discontinuing subsidy payments would increase total welfare in several european oecd countries but particularly in germany the advent of large amounts of intermittent electricity generated by solar power and wind power has been leading to large technical externalities with network operators and other producers including nuclear energy being forced to accommodate large swings in the production of renewable energy it has also lead to important financial externalities with average prices tending to be lower and price volatility higher than they would have been otherwise