Black-Green wants a participation option for wind turbine residents

Created: 2022-12-13Updated: 2022-12-13, 5:10 p.m

Wind turbines turn.

© Jens Büttner/dpa/archive image

Together with the new coalition partner from the Greens, the CDU now wants to speed up the expansion of wind power.

Financial incentives are intended to increase acceptance among residents.

A toad awaits investors.

Düsseldorf - According to the will of the CDU and the Greens, residents of new wind farms or completely renovated systems should have a legally guaranteed right to participate financially in such projects.

"Experience has shown that people want to be involved in the energy transition and are more open to new systems if they see a direct benefit for themselves," says a joint motion by the coalition parties.

It is to be introduced in the state parliament together with a draft law in the coming week, as the heads of the government factions announced on Tuesday in Düsseldorf.

A "citizen energy law" should give residents and municipalities a direct share in the financial proceeds from wind turbines next year and thus provide incentives to plan and implement corresponding projects on site.

In concrete terms, project sponsors should be obliged “to set up a liability-limiting company for new wind farms and to offer at least 20 percent of this company to residents and municipalities in the immediate vicinity”, as stated in the application by the CDU and the Greens.

The obligation should also apply to completely renewed systems (“repowering”).

The law is scheduled to come into force by the third quarter of 2023.

That was "a pretty draconian measure" for the entrepreneurs, admitted CDU parliamentary group leader Jan Heinisch.

Because of a comparable law in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, however, it is certain that this is a constitutional requirement.

The coalition factions have commissioned the state government to “set up a citizens' energy fund together with the NRW.Bank, which specifically supports wind energy projects by citizens in project development with venture capital”.

With changes to the building code, the coalition factions also want to overturn the general minimum distance of 1000 meters between repowering systems and residential buildings.

As a result, around 80 additional systems could be modernized in NRW, said Vice Chairman of the Greens parliamentary group Michael Röls.

The prerequisite for repowering is always that the more powerful systems then have to produce fewer emissions than before - even if they are usually built higher - explained Heinisch.

In addition, by the end of May 2023 at the latest, the federal requirement, according to which a general minimum distance may no longer be applied in designated “wind energy concentration zones”, must also be implemented, the CDU and Greens explained in their application.

This affects around 80 percent of the municipalities in NRW, namely all those who have such legally effective zones, said Röls.

In the medium term, the distance rule should become completely superfluous.

The coalition factions underline in their draft law that the accelerated expansion of wind energy is necessary in order to achieve the climate targets of the state and federal governments as well as more security of supply.

"The state government therefore wants to remove obstacles that hinder the expansion of wind energy at state level."

In their coalition agreement, the CDU and the Greens have set the goal of creating 1,000 additional wind turbines in NRW within this five-year electoral period.

SPD and FDP criticized that there were many announcements and test orders, but not enough real measures.

The planning and approval procedures would have to be fundamentally accelerated instead of "just tinkering with distances and specifications," said the economic policy spokesman for the FDP parliamentary group Dietmar Brockes.

The economic policy spokesman for the SPD parliamentary group, André Stinka, also demanded: "Instead of tinkering with details, NRW needs the wind power boom." dpa