Bavaria: conservationists against new hydroelectric power plants – Bavaria

Nature conservation groups no longer want new hydropower plants to be built in Bavaria and are calling for a renaturation offensive in rivers. The importance of small hydropower plants in terms of the energy industry is being exaggerated and their negative effects on water bodies and biodiversity are being ignored, criticized the Bund Naturschutz in Bayern, the Landesbund für Vogelschutz, the Landesfischereiverband, WWF Deutschland and the Bavarian Canoe Association on Monday.

Warnings from the state government that cuts in the small hydropower sector would slow down the Bavarian energy transition were misleading. With a good 4,000 plants with an output of less than 1 megawatt, the small hydropower sector in Bavaria only produces 1.5 percent of Bavaria’s electricity. The number of 170 new wind turbines to be built to replace the small hydroelectric power plants specified by the state government was much too high, the associations criticized.

Apart from the modernization of existing plants, the expansion potential of hydropower in Bavaria has largely been exhausted. Hydropower was one of the causes of the slump in migratory fish populations. Instead of sacrificing the last stretches of flowing water, the state government should strengthen the rivers as recreational areas for people and nature.

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