At the same time, Mr. Gabriel has sought to dampen expectations that he can bring about radical changes. He has repeatedly emphasized that he is not promising to bring down electricity prices, which are already among the highest in Europe.

Germany faces a delicate balance. It wants to keep momentum for renewable energy, while ensuring that it remains affordable. The country seeks to phase out its nuclear reactors by 2022, while increasing the share of power generated by renewable sources to 40 percent or 45 percent by 2025.

Last year, 23.4 percent of all energy produced in Germany came from renewable sources.

Ms. Merkel’s government wants to push the revamped laws through Parliament by midyear in an effort to stem the rising costs. Adding to the pressure is an investigation by the European Union into exemptions for energy-intensive operations in Germany, which Brussels says might violate trade laws but that Berlin argues are necessary to maintaining the country’s competitive edge.

Mr. Gabriel said that he would push back against Brussels, arguing that Germany was conducting an experiment from which the entire 28-nation bloc could benefit.

“We are trying to ease burdens that don’t exist elsewhere in Europe,” Mr. Gabriel said. “Germany is paying for the learning curve that others don’t need to pay for, that we need to keep this affordable for the German industry.”

Germany also faces the challenge of ensuring stability in the energy market. Conventional energy providers have suffered devastating losses because of imbalances in the energy market caused by the heavily subsidized renewables. Several have demanded that the government compensate them for keeping unprofitable plants active in order to ensure stability on the market.

Peter Terium, the head of the German power company RWE, said at the conference that nuclear energy might be phased out even earlier than the government has planned, given that it is no longer profitable. “It would not be responsible to allow a reactor to continue to run when it is losing money every day,” Mr. Terium said.