The Federation for Nature Conservation (BN) criticizes the fact that the new high-performance power lines to Bavaria will run almost exclusively through Lower Franconia. “The state government has delayed the decentralized citizen energy transition for well over ten years,” says BN state representative Martin Geilhufe. “Because the Free State now produces far too little green electricity, more new power lines are now needed.” However, this should not be at the expense of the population and the sensitive nature of Lower Franconia, which is already suffering particularly from the climate crisis as a heat hotspot.
As examples of his allegations, Geilhufe not only cites the two DC motorways Südlink and Suedwestlink, for which a branch to Lower Franconia was recently included in the network development plan at the urging of Energy Minister Hubert Aiwanger (Free Voters). But also the Nordwestlink and the two AC high-voltage lines Fulda-Main-Line and P540. The state government also rejected the latter for a long time, but now it is coming. The only major new line project from Northern Germany to Bavaria that does not run through Lower Franconia into the Free State is the Southeast Link. It will run through Upper Franconia and the Upper Palatinate to Lower Bavaria.
From the BN’s point of view, the least that the state government and network operators have to deliver now is a “transparency offensive”. The association is calling for a comprehensible plan as to how the state government’s climate protection goals – above all climate neutrality by 2040 – should be achieved. Priority must be given to the massive and short-term expansion of wind power, in all parts of Bavaria. This means that some new lines can be dispensed with. Wherever it is still necessary, planning must be carried out with a sense of proportion and great care.