Monday 17 January 2022
“Have reached zero”
Bavaria almost stops expanding wind power
In 2014, the then Prime Minister Seehofer introduced the 10H rule in Bavaria: Wind turbines must be at least 10 times their height from the nearest residential area. In the meantime, the expansion of wind power in Bavaria has come to an almost complete standstill.
The expansion of wind power in Bavaria, which has been sluggish for years anyway, reached a new low last year. Although six new turbines were approved in Bavaria in the first three quarters of last year, no new approval applications for new wind turbines were submitted in the same period for the first time since the 10H distance rule was introduced. This emerges from a response from the Ministry of Economics to a request from the Greens in the state parliament, which is available to the German Press Agency.
For comparison: In 2012, 271 applications for approval were made, in 2013 there were 400, in 2014 there were 220 and in 2020 only 3. The controversial 10-H rule stipulates that the distance between a wind turbine and the nearest housing area should generally be at least ten times the construction height must – with a rotor height of 200 meters, that is two kilometers. The regulation, which goes back to ex-Prime Minister Horst Seehofer, has continued to slow down the expansion of wind energy in Bavaria.
The distance rules have been debated for years. Federal Minister of Economics Robert Habeck wants to speak to the state government on Thursday about the topic, as the new federal government wants to push the expansion of renewable energies. The Bavarian Business Association (vbw), which is actually close to the CSU, recently called for the 10-H rule to be abolished. The CSU has so far refused to do so. For Bavaria, she relies on alternative renewable energies such as sun and geothermal energy.
“In Bavaria, we have now reached zero when it comes to wind power,” said Martin Stümpfig, spokesman for energy policy for the Greens in the state parliament. This is the low point after more than seven years of the 10H rule. “This also means that if nothing is applied for today, there will be no expansion in the next few years either, because the approval process takes four years on average. Wind power must now finally be brought to life by abolishing 10H.”
The Parliamentary State Secretary in the Federal Ministry of Economics, Oliver Krischer, appealed to the willingness of the states to cooperate. “No state government will be able to avoid the necessary expansion if it wants to achieve climate protection goals and guarantee security of supply,” he told the “Rheinische Post”.