Enlarge image
New areas can be opened up for wind turbines in the future
Photo: Hauke Christian Dittrich / dpa
Significantly more space will be available in Germany for wind power in the future.
As Federal Transport Minister Volker Wissing (FDP) and Federal Economics Minister Robert Habeck (Greens) announced, there is an agreement on better compatibility of wind energy use on land with radio navigation for aviation and with weather radar systems.
This means that in the future it will be possible to keep wind turbines closer to so-called rotary beacons and also to weather radars.
Specifically, the agreement provides for the so-called system protection areas to be reduced for radio navigation – from a current radius of 15 kilometers to five to seven kilometers from wind turbines.
The distances between the 17 weather radars operated by the German Weather Service are to be reduced from 15 to five kilometers.
"With the help of the latest scientific findings, we will be able to allow smaller distances in the vicinity of around 40 rotating radio beacons, which are used for safe navigation of aircraft," said Wissing.
"The same applies to the areas around 17 weather radars, which are used, among other things, to predict heavy rain events." This means that a "significant obstacle" to the expansion of wind power on land has now been cleared.
Habeck spoke of an additional potential of five gigawatts of wind energy.
That corresponds to more than 1000 new systems and is a “bold exclamation mark”.
Wissing spoke of "real progress" in the long-simmering debate about the area potential for wind power.
Wind power as the key
At the end of last year, around 28,000 wind turbines with a total output of 56 gigawatts were installed on the German mainland.
The faster expansion of onshore wind power plays a key role for the federal government to achieve climate protection goals - and also to become less dependent on gas, oil and coal from Russia.
This requires more space.
The problem: Germany has so far had comparatively strict rules as far as the location is concerned.
This Wednesday, the Federal Cabinet intends to launch further measures to expand renewable energy in an "Easter package".
Habeck had already announced in January that he wanted to develop areas for onshore wind power in the short term by reducing the distance to rotary radio beacons and weather radars.
hba/AFP/dpa
