The parliamentary group meeting of the CSU members of the state parliament should deal with an internal paper that deviates from the controversial distance rule in certain areas. Which new regulations are now being discussed – and which areas are planned.
On Wednesday afternoon, the CSU wants to discuss relaxing the 10-hour rule for wind turbines in Bavaria. The parliamentary group meeting of the CSU members of the state parliament will deal, among other things, with the question of whether a minimum distance of 1000 meters should apply in future between wind turbines and the nearest residential buildings in certain areas. That’s what it says in an internal paper that the Süddeutsche Zeitung present. CSU leader and Prime Minister Markus Söder had already made the 1000-meter proposal in a government statement in the summer of 2021. Now it remains to be seen whether the group will follow him.
So far, according to the 10-H rule, every wind turbine must be at least ten times its height from the nearest house – which blocks the expansion of wind energy in Bavaria. Since modern systems are now around 200 meters high, the relaxation now being discussed would roughly halve the minimum distance currently in force.
Apparently, this should only apply in those special areas that Söder has brought into play again and again in recent months: in state and private forests, on military training areas and in pre-polluted areas. According to the CSU paper, for example, “along federal motorways, federal roads with four or more lanes and main railway lines”. In addition, companies should be made easier to build their own wind turbines and old wind turbines should be modernized and thus made more efficient.
The content of the “wind plan” that Söder will submit to Federal Minister of Economics Robert Habeck (Greens) should also be decided in the debate of the CSU MPs. Habeck would like to completely overturn the 10-hour distance rule in order to implement the plan for his climate-friendly energy policy.
With the compromise proposals contained in the CSU paper, Söder wants to prevent this. His coalition partner, the Free Voters, does not stand in the way of facilitating the expansion of wind energy. Late Wednesday afternoon will probably show how the resistance in his own camp is. Then Söder and CSU parliamentary group leader Thomas Kreuzer want to inform about the results of the parliamentary group meeting.