Economics and Energy Minister Hubert Aiwanger (Free Voters) would like to have at least 600 new wind turbines built in Bavaria over the next ten years. That would double the capacity installed today, said Aiwanger on Wednesday in Munich. To do this, the priority areas that have already been designated would have to be exempted from the 10-H rule. The minister also demanded “that we go massively into the forests”. The wind turbines were less of a problem there, and only small areas of forest would have to be cleared. There are currently around 28,000 wind turbines in Germany and 1,138 in Bavaria. “We have to move forward now,” said Aiwanger. However, without the acceptance of local citizens, the expansion will not succeed.
According to the 10-H rule in Bavaria, wind turbines must be ten times their height from the nearest residential building – a 100 meter high wind turbine would therefore have to be 1000 meters away from the houses. On Thursday, the state parliament will vote on the SPD parliamentary group’s proposal to abolish the 10-hour rule. Allocating two percent of the Bavarian state area for wind power is not practicable, said Aiwanger. The federal government must consider the overall performance of a federal state and include Bavaria’s successes in solar energy in the calculation. When it comes to solar energy, Bavaria is the nationwide leader. The federal government should take over the Bavarian subsidy program and promote the expansion of solar energy with a subsidy program for photovoltaic storage. In second place among the renewable energies in Bavaria is hydropower.