The wind turbine in Hamberg in the municipality of Bruck has been running for a good three years. And it is going better than expected. The opponents of yore also admit that.
Hamberg - wind turbines are currently the top topic in the district. Some are planned in Ebersberger Forst, Moosach and Bruck. The only windmill in the district is in Hamberg. It started operating a good three years ago. Time to take stock.
Hans Zäuner, 45, is standing in the five-meter-wide gondola of the wind turbine in Hamberg. The knees are soft, 140 meters above the Brucker municipal floor. If you stick your head out of the hatch, the wind whistles around your ears, the whole gondola wobbles, plus mechanical noises. The view of the Alps is fantastic. Fencer has been up here many times. Together with Werner Stinauer, he manages the wind turbine. It went into operation on December 16, 2016. A good three years later, Zäuner says: "In 2025 it will no longer be the only wind turbine in the district".
19 files with expert reports
The plant was planned for five years. The 16 shareholders had to make an advance payment of EUR 200,000. There were species protection law tests, bird behavior in Hamberg was observed for 18 days, says Zäuner. A total of 19 files with expert reports were submitted to the authorities. There was a citizens' initiative against the wind turbine, she and the state association for bird protection brought an action before the administrative court in Munich. "Punch and Judy show for five years," says the operator. In the end, the approval notice came. On 77 pages.
"Today we could no longer build the wind turbine in Hamberg," says Zäuner. Because of "10H". Since 2014, the distance regulation has stipulated that the 10-fold height of the wind turbine must be maintained as the distance to the nearest residential area. Before that, the distance to residential buildings was calculated from sound and shadow impact, says Zäuner.
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Construction started in August 2016
Construction finally started in August 2016. 1800 square meters of forest area had to make way for the construction of the plant. The forest is reforested elsewhere with a factor of 1.2.
The whole thing cost 3.7 million euros. If the wind turbine continues to rotate as before, it will be paid off in 13 years, says Zäuner. The amount of the annual profit distribution from the investment income is currently four percent. It is expected to increase in the coming years. Zäuner says that you can double your own capital investment for the wind turbine after 20 years. "When I look at the wind turbine, I see my pension."
The windmill produces three and a half to four million kilowatt hours of electricity a year. The investment community sells the electricity generated - which will also be stored in the future - to the energy supplier “Eberwerk” for 8.42 cents per kilowatt hour. The price is guaranteed for 20 years.
The wildest arguments against the wind turbine
"The wildest arguments against the wind turbine came before construction," says the managing director. He lists: sleep disorders, noise, cows that do not give milk, sterile women. "Everything rubbish," says Zäuner.
Peter Pfaff lives 850 meters from the wind turbine. He was clearly against the construction in Hamberg. In front of his house, he can clearly hear the system, the rotor “rises with a massive force”, the wind turbine has radically changed the identity of the old farming village, says Pfaff. Enduring everything. Only one thing makes him angry: the proportionality of the wind turbine in relation to the energy transition.
"Compared to better stationed systems, the wind turbine only brings a modest yield," said Pfaff. The windmill is therefore less efficient in the sense of the energy transition, but will be subsidized for up to 20 years from tax money. One could handle public money better.
No new measurements
Richard Straub from Markt Schwaben, hobby ornithologist and 2nd chairman of the state association for bird protection in Ebersberg, was not enthusiastic about the wind turbine in Hamberg. There are extremely rare red kites and tree falcons. Straub doesn't know what the situation is like after a good three years with the birds in Hamberg. "There are no measurements for this". Accident birds could not be counted after all. Foxes and martens would get the prey first. But the bird conservationist says: "The energy turnaround will not succeed without losses".
