Ruling clears the way for solar systems on most monuments

28.11.2024

Almost every listed building can have a solar installation on the roof. This is the result of two rulings by the Münster Higher Administrative Court. Homeowners were proved right in each case.

There was a memorable exchange of words on 22 November in Room I of the Higher Administrative Court for NRW in Münster. A legal representative of the city of Siegen asked rhetorically which listed buildings could remain free of rooftop solar systems in the future. "There probably won't be many left," said Gudrun Dahme, presiding judge of the 10th Senate.

The dialog began in a case involving a former chapel school building. The slate-roofed half-timbered buildings typical of the Siegerland region are adorned with an attached chapel tower, officially known as a ridge turret. In Siegen-Niederschelden, at the end of 2021, the municipal heritage office refused to allow the current owner of the castle school to install 20 solar panels on the south-west side of the roof.

Wrongly, the 10th Senate has now ruled. In doing so, it went against the lower court, the Arnsberg Administrative Court. This had emphasized the special significance of the slate roof in mid-2022. In addition, an older version of the monument law had to be applied. The provision of the Renewable Energy Sources Act, which emphasizes the overriding public interest in the expansion of renewables in Section 2, does not yet apply.

Old school in Siegen and housing estate in Düsseldorf now "renewable"

The disillusionment of the Siegen conservationists was palpable. This was because the OVG Münster not only considered the federal law to be relevant in terms of time, it was also preferable to protecting the roof in terms of content. According to judge Gudrun Dahme, the color-matched solar system was designed to "protect the monument" and in no way impaired the building or its perception. After all, although the slate roof was mentioned in the assessment of the value of the monument, it was by no means the decisive factor.

On the same morning, the Senate had to hear another case in Düsseldorf. The administration of the state capital wanted to overturn a ruling by the Düsseldorf Administrative Court at the OVG. This had allowed the owner of a house in the protected "Golzheimer Siedlung" to install a solar system on her own roof.

The Higher Administrative Court argued that the solar power plant was installed on the less visible side of the house in the second row and matched the color scheme of the roof. Furthermore, the solar power plant was not located in one of the protected visual axes and therefore did not impair the view of the silhouette of the housing estate from the Rhine.

In addition to the cases in Düsseldorf and Siegen, the rulings are of trend-setting importance. This is because monument protection is "regularly" not suitable for preventing solar installations on roofs, according to the 10th Senate. State monument law takes precedence over federal law, which came into force at the end of July 2022. As was previously the case in a number of disputes concerning wind energy, solar power now also has fundamentally positive rulings in cases involving balancing of interests.

Few exceptions conceivable following individual case reviews

Judge Gudrun Dahme, however, countered the impression that solar energy now has a free pass compared to monument protection or other relevant concerns. A case-by-case assessment is still required. This could reveal that monuments, for example, still require special protection due to their special characteristics. The OVG also carried out these case-by-case assessments for the "Golzheimer Siedlung" in Düsseldorf and the Burgschule in Siegen. Result: see above.

It is therefore relatively clear that the justification of buildings as monuments must emphasize the value of the roof in order to be able to stand up to solar modules and the Renewable Energy Sources Act. "Neuschwanstein Castle" was used as an example in the discussion at the OVG, not meant entirely seriously. It shows that hardly any monument can avoid the modules if the owner wants them.

Author: Volker Stephan, E&M powernews