The Bund Naturschutz (BN) has asked Prime Minister Markus Söder (CSU) to implement his promise to make Bavaria climate neutral by 2040. “There are no more excuses to delay the energy transition further,” said BN boss Richard Mergner in Nuremberg. “After his vague and disappointing government statement on climate protection, Söder must now act.” Mergner called for a Bavarian climate protection law with binding targets for energy saving and the expansion of renewable energies. At the same time he called for a wind power offensive, the abandonment of the construction of new roads and the introduction of solar compulsory for buildings.
From the BN’s point of view, Bavaria has the best prerequisites to be a pioneer for a complete energy transition by 2040 – i.e. not only to convert the current power supply to renewable energies by this time, but also the transport and the supply of heating and cooling. The environmental association sees itself confirmed by a study by the Technical University of Munich and the Center for Applied Energy Research on its behalf.
However, the study makes a crucial prerequisite. She assumes that the energy demand in Germany can be halved by 2040, be it through the rapid changeover from fossil fuels in traffic to electric ones, which are significantly more economical, or through the accelerated installation of thermal insulation in houses and other buildings it through the consistent use of the latest energy-efficient technologies, for example in household appliances. Thanks to these prerequisites, the BN even considers the new electricity highways from northern Germany to Bavaria to be dispensable, which one day will transport vast amounts of wind power to the Free State. The many millions of euros for their construction should be invested in wind turbines and solar systems in Bavaria, is his demand.
However, from the BN’s point of view, halving the energy requirement is of course not enough. Photovoltaics and wind power must be massively expanded. The output of photovoltaics in Bavaria must be sixfold, demands the BN, and that of wind power must even be increased twelvefold – based on the current system inventory. In the case of wind power in particular, however, only a tiny fraction of this is currently being realized.
The reason is the 10-H rule. According to this, the distance between the new wind turbines and the next town must be ten times the height of the system. With modern wind turbines, that’s more than two kilometers. Since there are hardly any locations in densely populated Bavaria that meet this requirement, wind power has stagnated for a long time. All experts consider even a small wind power offensive with 10 H to be impossible. That is why the BN and many other associations and organizations are calling, like a prayer wheel, that the requirement be canceled. The BN wants to bridge the times when there is no solar or wind power with almost countless small or larger power storage systems. To this end, he demands a corresponding program from the state government.