Not a single windmill is turning in the district of Munich; and yet it should now go very quickly with the construction of rotors. Because the pressure on the federal states, districts and municipalities to make their contribution to the energy transition has increased enormously since the beginning of the month: the so-called wind-on-shore law has been in force since February 1, the Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Climate Robert Habeck (Greens) and which obliges the federal states to release more land for the construction of wind turbines. For the Free State, this means in concrete terms that by the end of 2027 an area contribution of 1.1 percent of the state area and by 2032 a value of 1.8 percent must be paid. So the tide has changed dramatically.
The district of Munich now wants to intensify its own efforts with a “positive plan for wind energy”, which the committee for energy transition, agriculture and environmental issues of the district council will deal with for the first time this Wednesday, March 1st. This means that the designation of areas for wind turbines is regionalized to a certain extent, because according to the Bavarian state development program it is intended that the planning regions will draw up corresponding sub-regional plans. In Bavaria there are a total of 18 planning regions, i.e. regional planning areas; The district of Munich is a central part of Region 14, which, in addition to the state capital Munich, also includes the districts of Dachau, Ebersberg, Erding, Freising, Fürstenfeldbruck, Landsberg am Lech and Starnberg – and in which around three million people live.
However, Region 14 has not yet drawn up its own sub-regional plan for the designation of areas; However, its chairman, Oberhaching’s Mayor Stefan Schelle (CSU), recently declared that between 300 and 400 wind turbines would have to be built in planning region 14 in order to meet the legal and time requirements of the Wind-on-Land Act – and also the growing one meet power needs.
On the initiative of District Administrator Christoph Göbel (CSU), the district of Munich now wants to have a research project scientifically examined how high the actual demand is and how wind power projects can also be implemented locally – which will also be absolutely necessary. Because the district of Munich takes up about twelve percent of the area within the entire planning region 14 – and this means that around 100 locations for wind turbines have to be found here alone. “Planning precautions must be taken for this,” says the district office.
The first rotors could soon turn over the treetops of the Hofoldinger Forest near Sauerlach.
(Photo: Claus Schunk)
And it should be quick: The research project, which will be managed by the Technical University of Munich (TU) under Professor Sören Schöbel-Rutschmann, who holds a professorship for landscape architecture, should only last one year. The project is to be accompanied by the Ebersberg-Munich energy agency and the Munich planning office Eniano. The so-called positive planning should above all also consider aspects of landscape design and the technical framework conditions of wind energy – and take place with the integration of dialogue and participation processes. The goal from the point of view of the authority of District Administrator Göbel: “This should not only achieve a broad consensus on the mere necessity of expanding wind power, but rather on its local implementation.”
This has not always been the case in the past. In the municipality of Brunnthal, for example, there was such great resistance to the construction of wind turbines in the Hofoldinger Forst that the municipal council decided to withdraw from the working group (Arge) Hofoldinger Forst – a decision that he would now like to reverse. Because undeterred, the remaining consortium members Sauerlach, Aying and Otterfing are pushing ahead with the construction of four rotors in the forest. The municipalities of Höhenkirchen-Siegertsbrunn, Egmating and Oberpframmern, which together form the consortium Höhenkirchner Forst, also want to produce energy with wind turbines as quickly as possible; Hohenbrunn recently decided to propose 11.5 percent of its area, also in the Höhenkirchner forest, to the regional planning association as a location for wind turbines, and plans in the Würmtal and for the Forstenrieder Park are also taking on more and more concrete forms.
With the investigation that is now being sought, it should also be possible for the municipalities to plan smaller wind farms or even individual locations – the concrete urban planning order will be determined in the process. Because it should be avoided that there is an “unplanned distribution” of rotors, rather a “comprehensible overall spatial concept” should be the goal. But it is also clear that the Wind-on-Land Act will change the image of the district permanently.