Aiwanger wants 300 new wind turbines - does the controversial 10H distance rule fall?

The traffic light parties are pushing for more wind turbines.

Does that mean that the controversial 10H rule in Bavaria will no longer apply?

Economics Minister Aiwanger is already calling for 300 new plants in the Free State.

Munich - Four years ago, the Mammendorfer municipal council started planning another wind turbine. Because the two existing systems in Mammendorf and Malching of Fürstenfeldbrucker * Stadtwerke are running well, in 2020 they supplied green electricity for around 4,300 households - and thus exceeded expectations. But with the third wind turbine, in which the citizens should also be involved, nothing is moving forward. The municipality had already decided to make use of the right to disregard the controversial 10H rule. But now the planning is stalling because of other hurdles such as the height restrictions imposed by military aviation and lawsuits against the nature conservation investigations that are mandatory prior to construction. "10H is the entry barrier for many municipalities in the expansion of wind power",says the Mammendorfer local council and wind power expert Werner Zauser. "But then there will be many others."

If the traffic light parties have their way, the expansion of wind power should be significantly accelerated

If the parties to a possible traffic light coalition in Berlin have their way, the expansion of wind power should be significantly accelerated.

Two percent of the country's area should be designated for wind power.

Greens * chairwoman Annalena Baerbock has now specified this plan in an interview with Deutschlandfunk - and also criticized the Bavarian path in wind power.

It cannot be that there will be massive expansion in some federal states, while Markus Söder is building almost no wind power plants in the strong industrial state of Bavaria.

In the future, there must be a fair share of wind turbines in every federal state.

There should be a national legal regulation for this.

This could overturn the 10H rule in Bavaria.

The distance rule is also controversial in the cabinet, most recently Environment Minister Thorsten Glauber (FW) questioned the distance requirement in connection with his draft for a new Bavarian climate protection law.

However, the CSU had let him down and referred to the coalition agreement.

However, Prime Minister Markus Söder (CSU *) later announced further exceptions to the distance rule in his government statement on the climate - for example when renovating existing systems.

The State Chancellery did not want to comment on Baerbock's criticism on Monday.

Aiwanger on the two percent target: "This is a requirement that forces us to act"

Economics minister Hubert Aiwanger (FW), on the other hand, says of the two percent target: "This is a requirement that forces us to act." But new systems are necessary. Regarding the size, he says: "300 new wind turbines - that is what we should aim for in the next few years." Another part of the growth could be achieved through repowering - i.e. the replacement of old turbines with new, more powerful ones. It should be possible to double the performance.

Professionals go further.

According to a study commissioned by the Association of Bavarian Energy and Water Management (VBEW), the installed wind power capacity would have to increase from 2.5 gigawatts today to around 13 gigawatts by 2040 - that would be a five-fold increase.

According to the state government's goal, Bavaria should be climate neutral by 2040.

If you want this, you would have to build two modern wind turbines with an output of five megawatts every week.

VBEW managing director Detlef Fischer let himself be carried away in August to the statement: "No landscape is too beautiful for a wind turbine."

That is too brash for Aiwanger.

If two percent of the land area in Bavaria were to be used as storage space for wind energy, then, he says, “we will reach the limits of acceptance”.

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