The future of solar subsidies has pitted members of Chancellor Merkel's cabinet against each other. But instead of politicizing the issue, German commentators on Friday urge the country's leaders to focus on consumers and what best serves Germany's energy needs.

Germany's Environment Minister Norbert Rottgen announced Thursday that he wants to revise the country's renewable energy law to help contain the costs of solar subsidies. The move comes as the future of solar subsidies has been called into question by members on both sides of the country's ruling center-right coalition of conservative Christian Democrats (CDU) and business-friendly Free Democrats (FDP).

After meeting with representatives of the solar industry in Berlin Thursday, Rottgen, a member of the CDU, said that the law (known as the EEG) will be amended, and he is in favor of doing so quickly. The law itself, though, will remain on the books. "There will be no systemic change to the EEG," said Rottgen.

Solar farm operators and homeowners with solar panels received more than €8 billion ($10.2 billion) in subsidies in 2011, but contributed only three percent of the country's total energy supply. The future of renewable energy is a major issue in Germany, where the government announced earlier this year that it would be phasing out its nuclear energy program.

Under Germany's renewable energy law, each new energy system qualifies for 20 years of subsidies. A flood of new solar farm operators and private users have pushed up the costs of those subsidies, opponents argue, passing the costs of the government support on to all electricity consumers nationwide.