Wind power, local heating network, photovoltaics on roofs: When it comes to the energy revolution, the municipality of Wartenberg is usually on board straight away.
But not so in the market council meeting on Wednesday evening, when the committee had to decide whether a register of potential for open-space solar energy should be created.
"Unfortunately rejected with 9:10 votes," Mayor Christian Pröbst (CSU) stated soberly at the end of the debate.
Wartenberg – As reported, Alexandru Steininger, managing director of power2nature from Forstinning, presented his company's work to the council in mid-December.
In Fraunberg it has already come to fruition and is allowed to present a so-called open space solar potential cadastre for the Wartenberg neighbors, as the unwieldy name goes.
The company is looking for locations in the municipal area where PV systems would be possible in open spaces.
In the next step, the property owners should be involved and, if possible, convinced to get involved in energy production.
But things don't even get that far in Wartenberg.
At the same time, Green Councilor Dominik Rutz had initially stated: "For the price, that's a good thing." According to the municipal administration, the commissioning of such a register would only cost just under 3,300 euros.
"And in the end we don't just have one card."
Many critics found that the possible areas were for agricultural purposes.
"What sense does that make?" asked Eduard Ertl (Neue Mitte), for example, saying there was a lot of potential for photovoltaics on roofs.
Comment: You are not forced to do anything
Clearly, the Wartenbergers have become the pioneers in the energy transition in the district, at the latest with the wind turbine plans for the Auerbacher Holz.
The decision against a register of potential for open-space photovoltaics will not greatly spoil this impression.
The decision after the first heated debate in the market council in mid-December did not come as a complete surprise either.
But: Even the ten councilors who voted against should be aware that nothing would have been lost for their interests if the result had been different.
And it would have been the better result.
When a farmer speaks out against ground-mounted PV because valuable land for food production would be lost, that is perfectly understandable.
Only: The cadastre - with a good 3000 euros even for the financially ailing Wartenberg probably just barely manageable - is only supposed to show possible potential for suitable areas.
No one is forced to do anything, but maybe someone who is already thinking will be pushed in the direction of installation.
The municipality would have a map in hand and could approach the citizens in a targeted manner.
power2nature Managing Director Steininger recently admitted to the Fraunberg municipal council that, according to statistics, 95 percent of the owners are against solar systems.
It's still your decision what to do with your space.
Fraunberg's mayor, Hans Wiesmaier, also recently made it clear that the priority is still on PV on roofs, but his municipality has certainly done nothing wrong with the additional commissioning of the cadastre.
Incidentally, there are also agri-PV systems, i.e. those in which agriculture and energy production take place in parallel on one area.
And the fact that the state will also have to supply the city in the future is an equally exciting and important indication from Wartenberg's mayor Christian Pröbst.
Even if you can understand both sides: in his council, a fundamental debate was unnecessarily conjured up - with a result that does not really fit in with the previous pioneering efforts of the market town of Wartenberg.
Markus Schwarzkugler
Michael Pröbst (CSU) also spoke out against it and reported on a controversial discussion in his party's parliamentary group meeting.
The district is already producing an energy surplus, he said, referring to a report in our newspaper.
However, he left out the fact that the megawatts from hydropower, which dominates biogas and solar energy in the district and which the Uniper power plants in the Isar Canal generate, do not remain on site but are fed into the Deutsche Bahn network.
Farmer Simon Grandinger (CSU) said: "I'm against it." This is about "the best soil.
You should produce food there.
It goes against my job.” In Wartenberg, you just have to “look left and right”: There are many other suitable options away from agricultural land.
"Of course, PV systems on roofs and above parking areas make sense, but if we want to take the energy transition seriously, then we need many different approaches," Rutz replied.
The people with PV on their roofs are the pioneers.
Nikolaus Hintermaier (FDP) and also the mayor reported from their own experience of problems with being allowed to feed their own solar power into the grid.
If you don't believe him, it's a "mess," Hintermaier scolded.
Steininger also recently reported to the Fraunberg municipal council that grid operators see no chance of feeding electricity into the grid in certain cases.
Thomas Furtner (CSU), freshly sworn in as a market councilor, asked whether Wartenberg wanted to become energy self-sufficient.
"That's not possible because we don't have a municipal energy supply company," explained Mayor Pröbst.
And it was not the first time that he pointed out that in future the rural communities would also have to supply the cities – there is little space in the city for open-space PV or wind turbines.
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