The largest wind farm in the Free State is to be built in the Bavarian state forest near Altötting. 40 wind turbines with a height of 200 metres are planned. This is causing protests among local residents, who see it as “ordinance politics”. Even the Greens consider the project a “rip-off” (Welt: 11.06.23).
Pilgrimage routes around Altötting soon to be accompanied by 200-metre-high wind turbines
The pilgrimage routes around Altötting, which lead to a place of pilgrimage, will soon be accompanied by 200-metre-high wind turbines. The French-German company Qair will plan, build and operate the project. The first wind turbine could turn in four and a half years. Bavaria’s Minister President Markus Söder called this “a breath of fresh air for the wind”. Bavaria had so far lagged behind other German states in wind power development, mainly due to unfavourable conditions and a lack of political will, critics said.
The expansion of wind power in Bavaria has been difficult or even impossible so far, mainly because of the mandatory minimum distance to residential areas. Last year, only 14 new wind turbines were erected in the whole of Bavaria, while 551 turbines were built nationwide. In 2021, even only six turbines were approved.
However, Federal Minister of Economics Robert Habeck has increased the pressure on the federal states to push ahead with the expansion of wind power. In Bavaria, a defused version of the 10H distance rule has been introduced since mid-November. According to Minister-President Söder, between 300 and 340 turbines are being planned to give new impetus to wind power expansion in Bavaria.
Altötting’s wind farm: Green energy for the chemical triangle and concerns about rapid development
The project in Altötting is of particular importance because it will supply part of the nearby “chemical triangle” with green electricity. In this industrial location in south-eastern Bavaria, companies such as Wacker and Linde consume about 0.5 percent of Germany’s total electricity and provide jobs and prosperity in the region. Since the outbreak of war in Ukraine, however, there have been repeated concerns that rising electricity prices and a compromised energy supply could cause companies to move away. The wind farm is intended to alleviate these concerns.
At the same time, there are new concerns surrounding the plans. Some in the Altötting area feel the development is happening too fast.
Criticism of the planned wind farm: Mayor doubts motives and calls for more citizen participation
“It gives the impression that wind turbines are only being built here to meet a quota,” says Stefan Kammergruber, non-party mayor of Emmerting, one of the nine neighbouring municipalities to the planned wind farm.
Stefan Kammergruber stresses that he thinks renewable energy is important, but has doubts about whether 200-metre-high turbines in the forest are the right way to go. He feels insufficiently informed about the project by the State Forests and the state government and sees in it a whiff of prescriptive politics. Since the state forest is common property, the citizens should be better involved.
At least according to the announcements, the Bavarian State Forests strive to act in a citizen-friendly way. Terms like “community-friendly” and “citizen acceptance” appear again and again in the project documents. However, Martin Stümpfig, energy policy spokesman for the Green parliamentary group in the Bavarian state parliament, believes that the project is not really citizen-friendly. Although he and his party support the expansion of wind power and also the planned wind farm, he criticises the implementation.
Controversial award for wind farm project: rip-off of citizens and criticism of lack of citizen participation
The Qair group was awarded the project, but many people consider this a rip-off because citizens do not benefit sufficiently. The municipalities are to receive only 0.2 cents per kilowatt hour generated, which Stümpfig says is considered the minimum standard. He criticises this as a lack of real citizen participation. Stümpfig describes the previous tender as very poor. Instead of focusing on proximity to citizens or the protection of nature, the tender mainly focused on the best price. As a result, smaller regional companies hardly had a chance to win the contract.
Some citizens also express criticism and doubt the sense of the project. A protest group called “Gegenwind Altötting” was formed, which organises information stands and distributes flyers. The members of this group fear maximum destruction of the forest with minimum electricity generation and consider the project to be senseless actionism. Experts from the industry describe the location in the state forest as having an average yield. For this reason, opponents of the project see the planned encroachment on nature as unjustified.
Citizens’ petitions could influence site selection
Seven of the nine affected municipalities have meanwhile spoken out in favour of the project. “I am not in favour of cutting down the forest,” Altötting’s mayor Stephan Antwerpen (CSU) announced in a statement (Blackout-News: 08.02.23). However, it is necessary to “weigh up the benefits and opportunities”. And the chances are greater in the state forest because there are no settlements or landowners blocking the expansion of wind power.
The Bavarian State Forests emphasise that wind turbines are only planned in places where the neighbouring community has also given its consent. The protest group “Gegenwind” has announced two citizens’ petitions against the wind farm. If the protests are successful, this will probably influence the exact choice of location – but not the wind farm as a whole.
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