German officials have agreed on a plan to shut down the nation's coal-fired power plants by the mid to late 2030s that will involve operators getting billions of euros in compensation, the government said Thursday.

German Finance Minister Olaf Scholz says coal industry operators will receive billions of euros in compensation.

"Germany is taking big steps on its way out of the fossil fuel age," finance minister Olaf Scholz told reporters in Berlin.

The government will pay a total of 4.35 billion euros ($ 4.9 billion) to companies operating power plants that will be closed this decade. The compensations "will be spread out over the 15 years following the shutdown" and represent an "affordable and in my view good result," Scholz added.