Bavaria: Greens fight for 160 new wind turbines a year - criticism of Markus Söder

Bavaria disputes the controversial 10H regulation for wind turbines.

Ludwig Hartmann, leader of the Greens in the state parliament, is now making a compromise proposal.

Munich - Since the ruling by the Federal Constitutional Court, climate protection has moved back to the center of the political debate.

Bavaria is also working on a new law.

A conversation with Ludwig Hartmann, leader of the Greens in the state parliament, about his expectations.

Mr. Hartmann, has Mr. Söder called you and asked for advice?

(laughs) No, but we Greens have put our good ideas on climate protection in the shop window.

Everyone is welcome to help themselves.

Seriously: what do you expect?

The law cannot focus on the years 2035 or 2040.

We need clear intermediate stages of what needs to be achieved in 2025 or 2030.

The aim is to reduce CO2 emissions in Bavaria as quickly as possible.

Ludwig Hartmann: Greens want to give municipalities more rights

And how exactly?

Let's take the heating sector: we have to give the municipalities more rights to use district heating.

If a company has process heat left over, it shouldn't be blown out through the chimney, but used on site.

We also need solar power for new buildings ...

.. Markus Söder has already announced that.

Announced.

As so often with him.

In June 2020 he said that this would be implemented by January 2021.

It's the end of May now - I'm not aware of any bill.

But it's not just about new buildings, we also have to use existing buildings with a transition period.

Solar systems on our roofs must become standard, just like the flush toilet in the house once did

How much electricity from renewable energies do we need?

Always more.

The Gundremmingen and Isar 2 nuclear power plants will go offline this year and next.

Electricity generation is an economic factor, so we keep added value and jobs in Bavaria.

It cannot be in our interest to be getting every second kilowatt hour from other countries soon.

It's about location policy.

Greens are calling for a broader energy mix in the future

So: how much solar power do we need?

We have to triple the installed capacity of solar power.

But the energy mix of the future must be much broader.

Little progress is being made with wind power.

The installed capacity for wind energy must be increased fivefold.

With modern systems, it is sufficient to double or triple the existing systems.

We currently have 1200 plants, we should add 140 to 160 plants in the future.

Then the seasons-dependent energy sources, sun and wind, work together optimally and we keep electricity production stable over the year.

Have fun considering the 10H rule ...

The discussion is very bogged down.

I therefore have a compromise proposal that builds a bridge for the state government, which is at odds on this issue: It would be enough if we designated two percent of the area of ​​Bavaria as priority areas.

98 percent could then stay with the 10h rule.

Who should show these two percent?

One thing is clear: they must be evenly distributed across all administrative districts.

In the 2014 regional planning, some areas with strong winds were identified.

That could be used as a basis.

My suggestion would be that a committee of experts made up of wind power operators, municipal utilities, municipal umbrella organizations and environmentalists look into it.

And what does the “priority area” mean in concrete terms?

We should work at the federal level to ensure that the approval processes there go faster.

Greens do not want to rule out lawsuits

That would also mean a lower right to sue?

Complaints cannot be completely ruled out.

Right.

But the instances could be reduced because the areas have already been checked.

It's about buying time and ensuring that lawsuits don't cripple every project for five years.

Wind power is emotional.

In the run-up to the designation of the priority areas there would be a knocking and stabbing.

For example, because people fear that their real estate will lose value.

No.

There are no studies that show a loss of value.

And of course, emission protection also applies in the priority areas: This results in minimum distances so that you do not hear anything about the systems or do not have any shadows in the front yard.

That means: usually a distance of one kilometer.

You don't seem to be expecting too much from the Climate Protection Act.

Preparations for a referendum are already underway in the background.

Yes, we have been in close contact for more than a year.

It is a very broad alliance of parties and associations; we are working on a bill.

If the government's proposals are not enough, we stand by.