The Association of Bavarian Energy and Water Management (VBEW) points out that the expansion of wind power in Bavaria requires much less space than many people fear. “Nobody has to be afraid that a new priority area for wind turbines will bring too many changes to their living conditions,” says association manager Detlef Fischer. “The actual sealed area of a wind turbine is minimal, wind turbines are built upwards, not across the surface.” The majority of the wind power priority areas identified in Bavaria could continue to be used for agriculture or forestry.
The Berlin traffic light government had forced the state government by law to accelerate the previously sluggish expansion of wind power. By the end of 2027, the Free State must therefore make 1.1 percent of the state area available for wind turbines. By the end of 2032 it will even be 1.8 percent. “That sounds like a lot in terms of area, when 1.8 percent of the country’s area is reserved for wind turbines,” says Fischer. “Most of it, however, is space between the individual systems, where nothing changes.” Only a fraction is actually needed for wind turbines.
According to a study by the Research Center for Energy Economics, a modern wind turbine requires around 350 square meters of space – that’s how big the foundation is. If you add the area for the access roads, maintenance work and the transformer, you get a space requirement of 2000 to 4000 square meters per system, with ultra-modern 5.5 megawatt wind turbines a maximum of 5000 square meters per system. According to a projection by the VBEW, around 2,200 wind turbines will have to be set up in Bavaria by 2040 for the state to achieve its climate protection goals. With around 1270 existing wind turbines, the actual space required for wind power is no more than 1700 hectares. “That’s 0.02 percent of the country’s area,” says Fischer. “Especially compared to photovoltaics, wind power requires very little space.”