As of: February 23, 2024, 7:26 a.m
By: Ulrike Hagen
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Press
Split
Lower Saxony wants to accelerate the expansion of wind power.
This could bring a lot of money into the coffers of municipalities, according to new studies.
NABU sharply criticizes the calculation.
Hanover – The expansion of wind energy is not without controversy.
But a study published on Wednesday (February 21) suggests that building wind farms could be very worthwhile for communities.
The construction of several wind farms would potentially bring in revenue of 1.1 billion euros by 2040 for the Rotenburg (Wümme) district and the regional economy alone.
Conservationists criticize the disregard for environmental and species protection.
The energy transition is the big topic in Germany and of course in the region.
Wind turbines have to be built, and so must the grids.
© Michael Krueger
Wind power brings a windfall for districts – study expects billions in revenue
The Rotenburg/Wümme district was examined as an example for the evaluation of the study, which was prepared by Deutsche WindGuard on behalf of the State Renewable Energy Association (LEE).
Against the background of the draft Lower Saxony law for the implementation of the Wind Energy Area Requirements Act approved by the state cabinet, 100 new wind farms are to be built there on over 8,000 hectares of land in the coming years.
NABU criticizes: “The issues of environmental and species protection are completely ignored”
NABU sharply criticizes the mammoth project: “We also see the need for increased expansion of wind turbines.
However, the study only looks at the employment and value creation potential,” says Dr.
Holger Buschmann, state chairman of NABU Lower Saxony, told
IPPEN.MEDIA
.
The issues of environmental protection and species protection are completely ignored, “even though we are in the midst of the greatest extinction of species in human history and the fastest in the history of the earth.”
The issues of environmental protection and species protection are completely ignored here, even though we are in the midst of the greatest extinction of species in human history and the fastest in the history of the earth.
Dr.
Holger Buschmann, state chairman of NABU Lower Saxony
While according to the federal government's objectives, 2.2 percent should be made available throughout Lower Saxony, in the Rotenburg district there is a gigantic four percent of the district area that should be designated for wind energy.
District Administrator Marco Prietz (CDU) commented: “The fact that four percent of the district's area has been allocated to wind turbines presents us with major challenges.
In the future you will be able to see a wind turbine from every point, which will change the landscape.”
However, such an expansion of renewable energies could bring up to 1.1 billion euros into the coffers of municipalities and the economy, the analyzes showed.
The study examined for the first time the municipal economic potential of electricity generation through the construction of wind farms for an individual region.
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Analysis shows: Lower Saxony municipalities could benefit from the energy transition
Each wind turbine could then generate up to two million euros in local income in the planning, investment and construction phase as well as in the operation, repowering and dismantling phase over its 20-year lifespan.
Additionally, farmers would earn income from leasing their land, adding to the financial benefits to the regional economy.
Horst Mangels from the Regional Renewable Energy Association (LEE): “We knew that the financial effects of wind farms on the regional economy and the municipalities are high, and that they are so high in Rotenburg excites us.
This shows that renewables have 'grown up' and now represent an important economic factor.”
“The study shows very clearly how much money is at stake and not only for municipalities and the system operators, but also for the land owners,” confirms NABU state chairman Buschmann.
“Gold rush mood”: Nature conservation association calls for framework conditions to protect nature
He said: “In this gold rush atmosphere, you shouldn’t be surprised that supposedly hindering or apparently unimportant things fall out of sight.”
Similar problems arise with open-field photovoltaics, including in the Rotenburg district, where a 50 hectare PV system is to be built in the middle of a core zone of a meadow bird breeding area.
Uncontrolled growth in the planning of wind turbines must be avoided, but this happens precisely because areas for renewable energies are being sought everywhere, even in protected areas, on moorland or in the forest.
Holger Buschmann, NABU state chairman for Lower Saxony
Uncontrolled growth in the planning of wind turbines must be avoided, but this is happening precisely because areas for renewable energies are being sought everywhere, “even in protected areas, on moorland or in the forest”.
Buschmann: “There is an urgent need for better framework conditions for the expansion of renewables, which politicians must provide in order to keep the damage to our nature as low as possible.”
The expansion must be carried out in a nature-friendly manner and species protection must be given urgent attention.
Nabu chairman warns: Without healthy ecosystems, the energy transition is doomed to failure
“We need the energy transition, but we also need healthy ecosystems with their enormous CO₂ storage capacities,” the NABU chairman points out, “without them the energy transition is doomed to failure, as sick ecosystems release more CO₂ than with the energy transition can be saved.”