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Altenstadt power plant may burn "quality waste" - criticism of the government's decision

2022-01-29T09:11:37.847Z


Altenstadt power plant may burn "quality waste" - criticism of the government's decision Created: 01/29/2022, 10:00 am By: Christopher Peters Big protest: Several hundred citizens demonstrated in 2020 against the expansion plans for the Altenstadt cogeneration plant. © Archive/Herald The government of Upper Bavaria has issued the immission control permit for the expansion of the existing range


Altenstadt power plant may burn "quality waste" - criticism of the government's decision

Created: 01/29/2022, 10:00 am

By: Christopher Peters

Big protest: Several hundred citizens demonstrated in 2020 against the expansion plans for the Altenstadt cogeneration plant.

© Archive/Herald

The government of Upper Bavaria has issued the immission control permit for the expansion of the existing range of fuels to include alternative fuels for the Altenstadt thermal power station.

That causes criticism.

Altenstadt - It is the news that power plant operator Siegfried Schuster had been waiting for: "The immission control approval for the significant modification of the thermal power plant was to be granted in accordance with § 16 Para. 2 BImSchG, since the legal requirements are met," said the government this week With.

In particular, the project "is not expected to have any harmful effects on the environment or other hazards, significant nuisances or significant disadvantages for the neighborhood and the general public".

According to expert reports, the relevant limit values ​​for odor immissions in the neighboring residential and commercial areas are clearly undercut.

"Even the pollutant emissions are below all relevant limit values."

In addition to waste wood, alternative fuels can also be burned

From a purely legal point of view, nothing stands in the way of the power plant operator's goal of being able to burn so-called alternative fuels in the plant in addition to waste wood in the future.

"The existing range of fuels is to be expanded to include the use of alternative fuels - such as quality-assured waste from pulp, paper, cardboard, textiles, packaging and from the production and processing of plastics," the government explains in more detail in its statement.

The proportion of substitute fuels is a maximum of 50 percent of the thermal output generated in each case.

A change in the overall thermal output is not planned.

The trial operation planned for this year is still pending

The approval is not a surprise.

Last year, the government promised that "a decision in favor of the applicant could be expected".

At that time, the government had already given the go-ahead for the construction of a corresponding fuel bunker, the installation of new conveyor technology and the connection of the new units to the existing process control system.

Construction has already begun, Schuster said when asked by the local newspaper.

However, the work is not yet complete.

Accordingly, according to the power plant operator, the test operation, which must be used to prove to the authorities that the converted plant also complies with the requested emission values, is still pending.

Opponents are disappointed with the decision

While Schuster is very happy, the opponents react with disappointment to the news from Munich. "Our objections are not addressed at all on the 79 pages of the approval notice," criticizes Hans Schütz from Peiting. He is a member of the “Action Group Against Waste Incineration in Altenstadt”, which had been protesting against the expansion since the plans for 2020 became known. Unfortunately, the request for a public discussion with the opportunity to raise objections and to discuss with experts was not taken into account by the approval authority, although legally possible, complains Schütz.

It is particularly annoying to deal with those who have turned to the government with objections. In addition to private individuals, this also included the Pfaffenwinkel environmental initiative. They only found out about the approval from the media. "This treatment of citizens is not only bad form, but also contributes to the disenchantment with politics that has been lamented again and again."

It is currently still unclear when substitute fuels will be regularly burned in Altenstadt.

But it could go faster than previously thought.

Originally, Schuster had announced that after the trial operation, he wanted to stay with the burning of waste wood for the time being.

The reason was that the Bundestag had decided at the end of 2020 to continue to vigorously promote electricity generation from wood.

However, the operator announced that this amendment to the Renewable Energy Sources Act was not approved in part because of its incompatibility with European state aid law.

"This also affects follow-up funding for the generation of electricity from waste wood." Schuster left open the consequences that will be drawn in Altenstadt.

"Our further decisions depend on the future economic and political conditions."

Source: merkur

All news articles on 2022-01-29

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