DThe federal government wants to tear down hurdles for the expansion of wind energy and overturn the distance regulations of the federal states. With a legislative package that was presented to the Reuters news agency this Wednesday morning, around two percent of Germany’s area is to be reserved for wind turbines. In order to enforce this, not only planning and building law, but also the nature conservation law should be changed.
According to the project, the distance rules for wind turbines to residential buildings can initially remain in force. However, if a federal state misses its space requirements, these regulations become invalid.
“Remove hurdles and obstacles to accelerated expansion”
The federal government justifies its actions with climate protection, but also with security reasons because of the war in Ukraine. “It is part of a comprehensive regulatory package with the aim of a sustainable and greenhouse gas-neutral energy supply, which should drastically accelerate the expansion of renewable energies and remove all hurdles and obstacles for the accelerated expansion,” says the justification in “Wind on Land”. -Law.
The main obstacle to expansion is the lack of available space. Therefore, two percent of the country would have to be designated for wind turbines. “This will require more than a doubling of the designated area in the coming years.”
Only around 0.8 percent of the federal area is currently designated for onshore wind energy. Only 0.5 percent would actually be used. The government’s goal is to double the capacity of onshore wind turbines to 115 gigawatts by 2030. Then a total of 80 percent of electricity from renewable energies should be capped.
Area targets for each federal state
In order to implement the area targets, the Wind Area Requirements Act (WindBG) contains clear specifications for each state: Bavaria, for example, must report 1.1 percent by the end of 2026 and then 1.8 percent by 2032. The same applies to Baden-Württemberg and North Rhine-Westphalia. Countries with more wind, such as Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, have targets of 1.4 and 2.1 percent.
If the goals are in danger of being missed, the distance rules set up in the federal states also fall: “Minimum distance regulations are no longer applicable if the area contribution values of the state according to the WindBG are not achieved,” it says.
According to government circles, the project is to be launched this Wednesday, approved by the cabinet in June and tabled in the Bundestag.
