A new hydroelectric power station is to be built in Wolfratshausen.
The process has now been going on for eight years.
Wolfratshausen/Bad Tölz – If everything had gone as planned by the Tölzer Stadtwerke and Bayernwerk AG, a hydroelectric power station would have gone into operation on the Loisach-Isar Canal in 2017.
Around 2000 Wolfratshausen households, that is about 25 percent, would be supplied with electricity generated from regenerative energy.
However, the water law process is still not complete.
"Of course the disappointment is great," says Michael Bartels, spokesman for Bayernwerk AG.
"We don't want to build a dam." On the one hand, the district of Bad Tölz-Wolfratshausen is striving to be climate-neutral by 2035 - and in this specific case, the approval process for a hydroelectric power plant is as tough as chewing gum.
"It doesn't go together," Bartels sums up.
"Disappointment is great": The proceedings for a new hydroelectric power plant in Upper Bavaria have been dragging on for eight years
In June 2015, Wasserkraft Farchet GmbH, founded by the Tölzer Stadtwerke (40 percent share) and the Eon subsidiary Bayernwerk (60 percent share), applied for approval under water law for a new power plant on the existing weir on the Loisach-Isar Canal.
The GmbH wanted to invest around 4.5 million euros, the turbine should deliver around two million kilowatt hours of electricity annually.
According to Walter Huber, head of the Tölzer Stadtwerke, this is a rather conservative calculation, according to him, six million kilowatt hours per year would theoretically be possible.
But the mills of the authorities and specialist departments involved in the process - above all the government of Upper Bavaria, the Weilheim water management office and the district office in Bad Tölz - grind carefully and slowly.
"There were always queries, new individual editions, always delays," said Bayernwerk spokesman Bartels in retrospect.
As early as 2019, Stadtwerke Manager Huber threatened to lose patience, because no decision had yet been made on the water law approval.
"I thought the energy transition was wanted by the state," Huber told our newspaper at the time.
He recalled that the Free State had set the goal of expanding hydropower in Bavaria by 50 percent by 2030.
Where exactly should so-called disruptive stones be positioned in the sewer?
Among other things, the GmbH based in Tölz still had to provide details on sheet piling, the stoning of the banks, the number and height of the trees around the weir and the exact positioning of so-called disruptive stones, which had to be fixed to the bottom of the canal.
"Fish find spawning grounds in the shadow of these turbulent rocks," explains Bartels.
He emphasizes that the protection of species is of great importance to the potential builder of the hydroelectric power plant.
"But what about climate protection?" And: "We don't know why the required rescheduling was repeated each time, despite mutual agreement."
As part of the approval process, there were repeated delays due to new requirements imposed by the responsible authorities.
These were so extensive that specific planning parts and ultimately the entire approval process had to be re-evaluated and re-planned.
Michael Bartels, spokesman for Bayernwerk AG
In January 2021, the government of Upper Bavaria and the district authority informed the GmbH: Due to the numerous individual requirements that had been imposed since 2018, it was now necessary "to submit the entire plan again," reports Bartels.
In this context, he points out: “By the way, we are only talking about water law here to this day” – the building law procedure is still pending.
District office spokeswoman explains the state of affairs
The spokeswoman for the district office, Sabine Schmid, explains the current state of affairs: "The plans have been revised and supplemented, so the plans have to be redesigned again." According to the official announcement by the city of Wolfratshausen, this will take place from next Monday, January 23, until including Friday, February 24, in the town hall or on the municipality's homepage.
Schmid continues: "The original application documents had to be completed, in particular with regard to ecological and nature conservation issues, and revised and supplemented in accordance with the coordination with the specialist authorities." In short: "We are still in the water law process."
In the course of the public display, "anyone whose interests are affected by the project can raise objections to the project in writing or for the record to the city or district office up to two weeks after the end of the display period," said Mayor Klaus Heilinglechner.
The Bayernwerk spokesman hopes that there are few or no objections.
From the investor's point of view, this is understandable - because every objection threatens to further delay the project.
Eight years after submitting the application "no big step forward"
"The planning effort was disproportionately high," says Bartels.
The federal government, the state, the districts and municipalities called for regenerative energy production - "and we as a regional electricity provider would like to do our part".
But eight years after submitting the application, "actually speaking, we haven't made much progress."
Nevertheless, Bartels remains optimistic.
If the water law permit is granted in a timely manner, the building application should then be approved and the orders for the various trades can be awarded - then ("but at the earliest!") the groundbreaking ceremony in Farchet could take place at the beginning of next year.
The commissioning of the hydroelectric power plant can therefore be expected “perhaps” in autumn/winter 2024.
Cost estimate from 2015 now obsolete
The cost estimate of 4.5 million euros from 2015 is of course completely wrong. Wasserkraft Farchet GmbH assumes that this sum will be "multiplied".
(cce)
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