Yes to photovoltaics in the open field near Kurzenried

Created: 03/24/2022, 10:41 am

By: Johannes Jais

The areas where the open-space photovoltaics are installed are shown in blue.

In between there is a small forest.

© Jais

Peiting – Where wind turbines were planned but have not yet been approved, at least green electricity should be produced from solar energy in the future: an open-space photovoltaic system will be built on the hill between the hamlets of Kurzenried and Kreut.

The modules are to be erected on twelve hectares.

With an output of eight megawatts, ten million kilowatt hours of electricity are to be generated there per year, which will be fed into the public grid.

This roughly corresponds to the output of a wind turbine.

The project can be compared to the solar park near Sachsenried, where local energy farmers have been generating around eleven million kilowatt hours of electricity since 2019 on an area of ​​14 hectares.

This covers the consumption of 3,500 households.

The application for an open space system with photovoltaics comes from Bürgerwind Pfaffenwinkel;

This is a company with 61 shareholders - mainly farmers - from the communities of Peiting, Steingaden, Wildsteig, Rottenbuch and Böbing.

The Peitingen market councils cleared the way for the construction of such a system in the meeting on Tuesday evening.

The vote ended after a long, intense debate by 12 votes to seven.

Five councilors and Mayor Peter Ostenrieder were missing that evening.

The meeting was chaired by his deputy Gunnar Prielmeier (SPD).

All municipal councilors from the ranks of the Greens, the Independents and the SPD as well as three colleagues from the CSU voted yes.

It is noticeable that the opinions on photovoltaics in the open field also differ among farmers.

Andreas Barnsteiner (citizens' association), at the same time local chairman of the farmers' association, said that the majority of the local association of the BBV was against such a system.

"PV belongs on the roof and not on agricultural land."

Second Mayor Prielmeier read the BBV's statement, in which particular reference was made to the fact that the areas required for the production of food were no longer available.

Dairy farms would come under more and more pressure.

Further arguments against an open-space PV are that there is no longer free access for people and wild animals.

Marion Gillinger (ÖDP) said that the land use was "much too high".

Such modules would have to be erected on gravel pits, in parking lots or on motorways.

Franz Seidel (citizens' association) regretted that the attempt by Bürgerwind Pfaffenwinkel to install wind turbines on the Köpfingen meadows "unfortunately failed".

He was against the Primary in the open field.

This project would certainly result in several inquiries from other vineyards in Peiting.

And sheep under the solar modules - "that's not the agricultural use that we need," commented Seidel.

Robert Sing and Sarah Spengler from the commissioned planning office in Landsberg as well as the partners Franz Schwaiger, Richard Gutleben and Thomas Krötz came to the meeting for Bürgerwind Pfaffenwinkel.

Engineer Robert Sing vehemently promoted ground-mounted photovoltaics.

The location is hardly visible, there are no ground breeders there.

In addition, these are so-called disadvantaged agricultural areas.

Compensation areas would be created by poor meadows where no fertilizer was used.

Sing referred to the rapidly increasing electricity prices and the need to rely much more on renewable energies.

Of course, the landscape will change.

The conversion to renewable energy will be “visible”, explained the planner.

Above all, he emphasized that value creation takes place locally.

Sarah Spengler from the Sing engineering office explained when asked by the district messenger that a total investment of around 5.5 million euros could be expected for a ground-mounted photovoltaic system with an output of eight megawatts.

Furthermore, municipalities can be offered 0.2 cents per kilowatt hour for the amount of electricity actually fed into the grid.

This is around 18,000 euros per year for the Peiting market.

Steffi Wörnzhofer (CSU) had already asked about this point at the meeting.

land use

Günter Franz (Greens) and Christian Lory (Independent) hit the same horn.

With the argument that agricultural land is being lost for production, one must “sweep in front of one’s own front door” (Lory on biogas plants) or think of consumption for commercial areas (Franz).

Thomas Elste (Greens) added that PV systems in the open field are comparatively easy to dismantle.

The powerful argument, however, is that the added value remains in the region.

"We can also win something here", Tobias Eding (SPD) clarified his opinion and referred to the investment of the 61 farmers.

Second Mayor Gunnar Prielmeier (SPD) justified his yes by saying that solar power would help reduce carbon dioxide emissions and thus global warming.

Herbert Salzmann (SPD) emphasized that it was not a fundamental decision, but a yes or no to a specific project.

He has no problem with the fact that 0.16 percent of the Peitinger area is equipped with solar modules with the current project.

In addition, there is still an export surplus of milk.

Robert Sing from the planning office of the same name outlined the further procedure.

In April 2022, the building law procedure will begin.

Next year, the modules are to be installed on the Köpfingen Wiesen, where wind turbines are not approved due to species protection (red kite occurrence), radar field of the weather service and monument protection (close to the Wieskirche World Heritage Site).

Electricity generation is scheduled to start at the end of 2023.