Now wind power: Söder is planning two new projects in Bavaria – "A fresh wind is blowing"
Created: 12/15/2022 11:21 am
By: Christian Deutschländer
Söder is making a turn in wind power: Two large parks are planned in Burghausen and Franconia.
Conservationists and opposition still skeptical.
Munich – It was not even a year ago that Markus Söder sounded completely different.
He was "skeptical" about the rapid expansion of wind power in Bavaria, said the Prime Minister.
Bavaria is more a sunny than a windy country.
A little later he invented the nasty word "asparagus shock", referring to the ugliness of the wind power sticks.
And now?
Söder stands in front of the cameras and proudly announces that one of the largest wind projects in Germany is being planned in southern Bavaria.
"A fresh wind is blowing," says the CSU boss.
Söder presents two large wind farm projects
In fact, this day marks the completion of a 180-degree turnaround in Bavaria's energy policy.
Wind power skeptics and distance keepers have been swept away, the state government is now the pioneer.
For the time being, all wishes, plans and ideas, but far-reaching: On Tuesday, December 13, Söder announced that two large wind farms are to be built to supply companies with electricity.
In Upper Franconia, 15 wind turbines in the state forest are supposed to keep the glass industry connected to the grid.
In the chemical triangle near Burghausen, 30 to 40 plants are also planned in the forest.
According to Söder, this would be the largest "onshore project" (on land) in the republic.
According to earlier information, the systems in the district of Altötting could cover up to ten percent of the electricity requirements of the chemical industry in the region.
The industry is extremely energy-hungry, Wacker, OMV, Linde and Co. consume 0.5 percent of Germany's electricity here.
Now an investor for the park is to be found.
10H relaxation as a start signal for wind power
Economics Minister Hubert Aiwanger (FW) sees this as a test of whether Bavaria can also cope with the energy transition with wind power: "We have to be able to do that." Approvals should now be given quickly.
Distance rules (the location in the chemical triangle is in a wind exclusion area under planning law) have already been relaxed.
Söder, who previously denied any connection between the 10H distance rule and the lack of wind turbines, now says that the 10H relaxation was a "start signal".
Up to 340 projects are now being planned across Bavaria or are even about to be approved.
The enthusiasm is so great that he even posts photos of himself with colorful paper pinwheels on Twitter.
The head of government is now demanding that opponents of the projects refrain from filing lawsuits.
He has the "urgent request to the nature conservation organizations to enter into a moratorium on lawsuits against renewable energy".
It should be a "pact".
What at least the Bund Naturschutz takes up with a frown: According to the state association, no one has ever complained about a wind turbine.
The energy transition has always failed because of Söder.
(By the way: Our Bayern newsletter informs you about all the important stories from Bavaria. Register here.)
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Söder has to do some convincing with his CSU
However, part of the turnaround in the CSU (all of this under the impression of the energy crisis) is that Söder reassessed the situation faster than his party.
It took several hours of exertion by the Prime Minister in the CSU parliamentary group for the 10H rule, which has been in effect since 2014, to be relaxed recently.
This was made easier by the fact that the Association of Bavarian Business, an influential association, publicly opposed 10H.
The opposition is irritated.
The SPD insists that one of its mayors in Upper Franconia is the true driver of the park, the CSU adorns itself with foreign feathers.
Green parliamentary group leader Ludwig Hartmann warns that Söder will also break this promise.
He is curious when the topping-out ceremony for the wind farms will be, says Hartmann: "With the current CSU implementation speed of the energy transition, Markus Söder might come as a political pensioner too."
