NWZ from August 31, 2021, caricature by Harm Bengen: “I WILL MISS THEM. ME TOO [………]"
In Germany, the legal language has been enriched by the term "adequate space" for wind turbines. Some politicians are still defending blanket distance requirements [1], but it looks like they will have to step down in the very "modernisation decade" they wanted.
The Agency for Onshore Wind Energy is an organisation funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy. Back in 2015 it conducted a comprehensive analysis of international studies and a survey of more than 1,300 residents at more than 20 wind turbine sites and concluded that "no significant correlation with distance can be found for the acceptance or the stress effects of wind turbines"[2].
The German Wind Energy Association has now presented concrete proposals for the necessary professional expansion of onshore wind power through changes in the approval procedure, land provision, court proceedings and species protection, enabling the new German government to speed up the process.
"Politicians should no longer be allowed to hide behind empty words with no real substance," said Ubbo de Witt, chairman of the planners' council of the BWE. "The proposed immediate measures can provide the necessary guidance for anyone claiming they want to force through faster achievement of the energy transition. Blanket distance regulations must be abolished, specifically Section 249(3) of the German building code must be repealed immediately. The related regulations at federal and state level must also be withdrawn right now. Then we will manage to revive the enterprising spirit of the wind power pioneeers and resume the success story of an innovative renewable energy industry driven by wind power."
Programme for the 20th legislative period presented
[1] Implement the energy transition faster
[2] More distance - more acceptance?
