In a way, that was symptomatic of the diminished importance the Energiewende – Germany's transition from nuclear to renewable power – currently has in the country's public debate.

Merkel's, Gabriel's and much of the media's attention is almost obsessively geared towards how to cope with the 1.2 million refugees that have entered Germany since early 2015, and whether or not to stop more from coming.

BEE president Fritz Brickwedde, in a more political than usual speech at the reception in a fancy Berlin hotel, stressed that the refugee crisis is a consequence of terror and wars that are financed by dirty oil.

"The more we can reduce oil imports in all sectors through the build-up of renewables, the better we dry out this swamp of violence," he told an audience of several hundred RE executives, lawmakers and minister Hendricks.

To reach the targets agreed upon at the Paris climate summit, Germany must extend the Energiewende to the heating and transport sectors, and abstain from cementing a 40-45% RE target in the electricity mix by 2025 as an upper limit via reforms of the country's Renewable Energies Law (EEG), Brickwedde stressed.

The BEE on Monday had presented an expert study called The Energiewende after COP21 that came to the conclusion that Germany will clearly miss its 2020 climate targets, and would need to raise its 2025 RE target in the electricity mix to 60% to do its part to achieve the goals agreed upon in Paris. A Greenpeace study published this week came to a very similar conclusion. Germany currently derives a third of its electricity from RE.

Hendricks – who represented Germany at the Paris talks and cried in front of the cameras when a breakthrough was made there – at the BEE reception acknowledged that the government needs to turn its attention more to mobility and heating, and said in the long run renewables will become the most important energy source also for those sectors.

That would lead to an increase in electricity demand and consequently the need for a faster expansion of renewables, Hendricks concluded, making her the first cabinet member to cautiously advocate a faster RE build-up.

The minister also said that the outcome of Paris means that Germany after its nuclear exit (by 2022) needs to also start an exit from coal and lignite.

All this should be music to the ears of the RE industry. Nevertheless, the applause for Hendricks at the BEE reception was muted. Partly that was due to the minister also stressing that a faster RE expansion was a challenge given increasing resistance from environmentalists against wind parks, Germany's problems with its too-slow grid expansion, and massive job fears in the affected regions in the case of a coal exit.

But the guests at the reception also knew that Hendricks' clout in the government pales compared to that of Gabriel, who recently said the time for "puppy protection" for renewables was over as he defended tougher rules for RE after the EEG reform.

At the same time, Merkel pays little to no attention to the Energiewende these days and several senior lawmakers in her Christian Democratic Union (CDU) are actually lobbying for less ambitious RE targets, arguing support levels were still a too-high burden on power bills.

The cost argument – whether justified or not – is always a dangerous one as it could turn citizens against the Energiewende. It doesn't help that finance minister Wolfgang Schäuble is openly lobbying for an additional levy on gasoline for Germany to pay for the billions of euros needed to accommodate refugees – another rise in energy costs in the eyes of consumers.

To win the battle against indifference or open hostility towards RE, the renewables sector is well advised to take a combative stand in favour of the Energiewende that so far has been one of Germany's greatest success stories, make a lot of public noise, and even link it to geopolitical issues as BEE president Brickwedde has done.

In Dispatches, Recharge journalists offer a personal insight into the issues shaping the development of renewable energy around the world