As of: February 19, 2024, 9:30 a.m
By: Charlotte Borst
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Press
Split
Wind farms like this (here an example from Brandenburg) are also to be built in the Munich area - but not everywhere: There are 22 priority areas.
© Patrick Pleul/dpa
Is Stefan Schelle a wind power preventer?
The district Greens accuse the RPV chairman of this.
In a detailed interview, Schelle defends herself against the allegation.
District
- From the critics' point of view, the Munich Regional Planning Association (RPV), whose chairman is Oberhaching's Mayor Schelle, has made too few proposals for priority areas.
Communities like Planegg that are trying to build wind turbines would be ignored.
You can also hear disappointment from the Greens in Grünwald and from the Greens and SPD in Oberhaching because the Perlacher Forest is not one of the priority areas.
A working group from the municipalities of Oberhaching, Taufkirchen, Grünwald and Unterhaching is aiming for a wind power project here.
The chairman of the regional planning association is Oberhaching's mayor Stefan Schelle.
© Robert Brouczek
Mr. Schelle, are you a wind power brakeman?
It's a little hysterical, almost cheeky, to call me a wind power preventer.
I've only read about it in the press so far, and no one has spoken to me personally, even though we usually talk to each other in Oberhaching.
I am not an anti-wind power activist.
The regional planning association proceeds soberly and quickly in the search for priority areas.
And that is the only way we can make sensible decisions in this country.
Your critics would have liked significantly more priority areas for wind power...
We are at the very beginning of the process.
If the RPV succeeds in identifying the 22 priority areas in a legally secure manner, we would have taken a big step towards realizing wind power.
Now when people say I don't like the result, they have to present arguments.
The RPV has identified 22 priority areas in the Munich region. Wind turbine construction there should be privileged in 2026. A success?
When the federal government wrote into the Free State's register that 1.8 percent of the state's area should be designated for wind power, I was not euphoric that we would be able to do this in the heavily populated Munich area, especially since the proximity to various airports excludes large areas.
We therefore want to find 1.1 percent of suitable areas in the first step and 1.8 percent in the second.
Nevertheless, the RPV already proposed 2.3 percent of the region's area as priority areas in the first draft.
Where is the error please?
We were happily surprised.
I don't know what's supposed to prevent wind power.
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How did that succeed?
The result can be attributed to the diligence and competence of the government representative Thomas Bläser and the RPV managing director Marc Wißmann.
You have done a Sisyphean job.
They determined countless exclusion parameters, such as proximity to settlements, airports, water protection areas, monuments and so on.
They excluded many areas in this way.
What's left has a great chance of legal security.
You pushed for the RPV Munich to immediately set up an advisory board. Why?
The committee supports and controls the search for priority areas.
I said we can't do this in secret.
Two representatives from each district work on the advisory board - usually the district administrator and a mayor - as well as the Bayernwerke as an energy supplier, a wind care provider, the Bavarian state forests, the State Association for Bird Protection, the Association for Nature Conservation and the Bavarian Hunting Association.
Valuable tips came from the committee, for example about bundling wind turbine locations.
Bayernwerke suggested this for economic reasons because of the additional costs for substations and lines.
There are also other reasons for clustering.
The unobstructed view of the mountains is a value for many, as is biodiversity and drinking water protection in the forests.
We can be happy if forest areas are kept free.
Maybe future generations will thank us for that.
I think regional planning has never been more valuable.
However, critics complain that communities are considering wind turbine projects regardless of the priority areas. Will these projects now be deprived of their basis?
Municipalities can also use development plans to pursue wind turbines outside of priority areas.
However, there is the risk that a referendum – as happened in Mehring – prevents a project.
Things are different in the priority area.
If regional planning decides that wind power or gravel mining is important to us here or there, a referendum cannot intervene.
Therefore, priority areas facilitate wind power.
This is also the case in Ismaning once all procedures have been completed; the Ramsar area on the reservoir must be taken into account here.
The Perlacher Forest was not designated as a priority area. Should Grünwald, Oberhaching, Taufkirchen and Unterhaching still stick to the wind power working group?
Yes, the Perlacher Forest is not one of the priority areas at first glance.
However, there is a possibility that it will still become a priority area.
For Oberhaching, I will suggest that we take positive note of the RPV's priority areas and keep the Perlacher Forest in discussion. If in the end there are still areas missing for the 1.8 percent target, we will be happy.
These priority areas affect the Munich district:
■
Neuried, Forstenrieder Park – 1674 hectares, 98 percent forest;
■
Aying, Brunnthal, Sauerlach – 1561 hectares, 99 percent forest;
■
Five communities near Eching/Ismaning/Garching – 525 hectares, two percent forest.