The company “Deutsche Energieunion” has contacted the municipality of Schäftlarn to install an open-space photovoltaic system on the A 95 motorway in Neufahrn. The solar park will be around 28,000 square meters in size. Partial areas of five private property owners would be affected. The solar company and the landowners have already signed user agreements. The municipality of Schäftlarn would now have to draw up a development plan for the solar park. However, the council did not do so at its most recent meeting.
In purely mathematical terms, the open-space photovoltaic system could supply around 712 households with an average of 4,000 kilowatt hours of electricity per year in a climate-neutral manner, said Andreas Porer, head of the building authority, to the local councillors. In addition, the project is in line with the climate protection goals of the municipality. “On the part of the administration, we are positive about the whole thing,” said Mayor Christian Fürst (CSU). However, the initiative was met with skepticism in the local council.
The solar park is to be built on a hill, at the intersection of Starnberger Straße and the A 95. “It’s going uphill there, that has a certain local character,” said Matthias Ruhdorfer (CSU). Michael Waldherr (Municipal Union) feared that this would be an “endless aluminum view” and demanded that the investor “first show the municipal council what it looks like”. Maria Reitinger (Independent Voter Group Gemeindewohl) interjected that the municipality had enough roofs that its citizens could initially equip with solar cells. Councilor Philipp von Hoyos (Greens) asked whether Schäftlarn was involved in the profit. “Does the community have any business income from this?”
His party colleague Christian Lankes replied that the topic of renewable energies should be considered more comprehensively. After all, it’s about saving CO₂ – “we all benefit from it.” Marcel Tonnar from the Green Group also spoke out in favor of not scaring the company away. It is unusual for an investor to be interested in such a relatively small area.
The municipal council agreed to send the company a “fundamentally positive signal”. However, it should first be examined what opportunities the municipality of Schäftlarn and its population have to participate in it. During a trip to comparable facilities, the municipal councilors also want to check what kind of visual impression such a facility makes.