Podcast “Again something learned” on the wind power target of the traffic light parties: Areas are actually there

The possible traffic light coalition wants more wind turbines to be built. Two percent of Germany’s land area is to be devoted to wind power. Can it work?

Germany wants to become climate neutral by 2045. The expansion of renewable energies, mainly photovoltaics and wind power, plays a central role in this. The possible traffic light coalition of the SPD, Greens and FDP has resolved that two percent of the land area should be designated for wind power on land. “There are various calculations that come to the conclusion that we would need two percent of the area in Germany for wind turbines in order to guarantee a CO2-neutral energy supply,” says Mascha Richter from the Reiner Lemoine Institute in Berlin in the ntv podcast “Wieder was learned “. According to the Federal Environment Agency, only 0.8 percent of the area established nationwide for use by wind energy. And in fact it is even less, only around 0.5 percent.

Because whether these areas can actually be used for wind turbines depends on other factors, explains Mascha Richter. “A certain distance to settlements, nature conservation, protection of flora, fauna, habitat and landscape protection. Then there are other uses, for example military use, areas where no wind turbines should or may not be in the air. Infrastructure is another criterion: you must keep a distance from roads and airports. “

In order to achieve two percent, new areas are needed where wind turbines can be set up. And there are – at least in theory. A tool that Mascha Richter and her team developed for the Agora Energiewende think tank shows exactly where: a photovoltaic and wind area calculator. In the map you can look for each municipality where there is potential for wind turbines and solar systems without taking into account the regional-specific rules of the federal states. They have different ideas about how far away a wind turbine can be from villages or towns.

Many wind turbines in Brandenburg, few in Bavaria

In Bavaria, for example, the so-called ten-H rule applies. “That means the distance to the settlement has to be ten times the height of the wind turbine”, explains Mascha Richter. This regulation ensures that hardly any new systems are built between Hof and Oberstdorf or between Neu-Ulm and Passau. In the first nine months of this year it was just eight. For comparison: In Brandenburg, 76 wind turbines were installed in the same time, over nine times as many. Mascha Richter believes that if the distance rules were standardized nationwide, new areas could become available for wind turbines.

There is also potential for more wind turbines in protected landscape areas. These could be identified relatively easily, says the expert. “A third large area are forest areas. There is technically the possibility of using forest areas, that is, to have the wind power plant above the treetops. There are federal states that are already doing this. But there are also very many federal states that say Forest areas are excluded with us. And if you were to rethink this exclusion, for example, there would also be great potential again. “

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It is true that more wind turbines were built throughout Germany this year. According to the specialist wind energy agency, a total of 345, which together provide around 1.4 gigawatts of power. But that is not enough, says the Federal Wind Energy Association. For the energy transition, more than five gigawatts of new wind energy capacity on land are required every year. The key to more permits lies in the areas. The Federal Wind Energy Association is therefore also calling for two percent to be compulsory in every federal state. The only federal state that has already achieved this value is Schleswig-Holstein.

Financial incentives for the municipalities

However, determining new areas is relatively time-consuming. Regional planning communities that extend over several districts are primarily responsible for this. “On the one hand, they have stipulations from the state governments on how much space should be designated for wind turbines so that climate targets can be achieved. And at the same time there are a lot of restrictive criteria,” says Mascha Richter in the podcast. “They look at what possible areas would be in our catchment area and then make plans for them, put these plans out publicly. Citizens can also say something about it again. And then it is handed over to the state governments and they have to approve these plans. “

The wording of the exploratory paper of the traffic light government states that “two percent of the land area should be designated” for onshore wind power. That is a bit imprecise. If this means that each federal state should provide two percent for wind power, it would be more difficult for some countries than for others to achieve this. “There are more wind turbines in the north than in the south and the wind availability is also somewhat better in the north,” explains Mascha Richter. It would be possible that some federal states compensate for the deficit of the others. But the willingness to do so is rather low. “You would have to think about an incentive system so that federal states like Brandenburg or Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania expand,” suggests the expert.

The municipalities receive part of the trade tax from the wind turbine operators, but the affected municipalities have to split it up. However, that is often not enough, which is why the federal states go their own way. In Hesse, for example, there is a “wind energy dividend”. This year, the state government has already paid the cities and municipalities around 300,000 euros in lease income for wind turbines, reports the Daily mirror. In Brandenburg, wind turbine operators have to pay municipalities within a three kilometer radius of 10,000 euros per plant per year.

Long planning delays wind turbine construction

Many people are in favor of climate protection, but do not want the wind turbine close by, says the head of the Association of Towns and Municipalities Gerd Landsberg in the “Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung”. There are more and more lawsuits against wind turbines, in 2020 there were 183. If, for example, the wind farm operators were to give some of their profits to the municipalities, this could increase acceptance. The new traffic light coalition is planning that too. She wants to “ensure that the municipalities benefit financially from wind turbines and larger open-space solar systems in their area”.

Another reason why the construction of wind turbines is not moving so quickly is the long planning process. It takes at least five, sometimes up to twelve, years from planning to installation Report of the federal-state cooperation committee emerged. This is due, among other things, to the lack of staff in the regional planning offices, criticizes the Federal Environment Agency.

And they are crucial when it comes to expanding wind power, as they have to implement the goals of the federal government. Mascha Richter calls for local people as well as regional politics and administration to be more closely involved. “Then there are also very site-specific factors that speak against the construction of a wind turbine at the point that cannot be observed at all at the federal level and cannot be regulated. That is why it is important that it goes back to the municipalities . “

The two percent target of the traffic light parties is ambitious, but achievable. So far, however, Germany has stood in its own way. The Federal Environment Agency calls for more suitable areas to be designated. Otherwise there will be nothing with the expansion goals. And nothing to do with climate neutrality by 2045.

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