Source: Bavarian State Ministry of Economic Affairs, Regional Development and Energy, 08 June 2022
Bavaria's Minister of Economic Affairs and Energy, Hubert Aiwanger, has reacted to the draft of the Federal Government's Wind Area Requirements Act.
The draft contains clear specifications for Bavaria: by January 1, 2027, 1.1% of the Bavarian land area is to be designated for wind power, and by January 1, 2033, it will be 1.8% (Bavaria's land area: 70,541.57 km2)
Aiwanger: "We can deal with that. Our anyway planned relaxations of the 10H rule bring even more potential for wind power than the federal requirement. We need the targeted expansion of wind power to supply our economy with regional renewable electricity safely and at low cost. The only downer from Berlin is that the minimum distance between wind turbines and settlements in wind priority and reservation areas may not be 1000 meters; as we had planned, but only around 800 meters, as stipulated by the Federal Immission Control Act (BImSchG). Although this increases the number of possible sites, local residents will view the specifications more critically. New Wind turbines, however, are also quieter than older turbines were."
In contrast, the exceptions to the 10H rule planned by the state government in areas that are not priority or reserved areas could, according to an initial assessment, maintain a distance of 1000 meters from settlement areas. These include, for example, forests or the perimeter around industrial and commercial areas as well as along highways and railroad lines. The regional planning associations must grant wind power in Bavaria more area in the future.
In Bavaria, the acceptance for new wind turbines is increasing, according to Aiwanger. "Citizens and the economy urgently need safe and affordable regional energies after the nuclear phase-out, the massive increase in energy prices and increasingly uncertain supply situation with fossil fuels. And that is with us above all sun, wind, water and biomass."
Last weekend, more than 70 percent of voters had voted for the construction of up to six wind turbines in the Lower Franconian community of Üchtelhausen in the district of Schweinfurt.
Read the full press release here.
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