Expansion of wind power
Bavarian state government wants to relax 10H – CSU agrees
New wind turbines will probably soon be installed in Bavaria. Photo: Julian Stratenschulte/dpa
© dpa-infocom GmbH
Bavaria is seen as a brake when it comes to expanding wind power. Now the state government wants to soften a controversial rule.
After a long period of resistance within the CSU and under great political pressure, the Bavarian state government wants to soften the controversial 10H minimum distance rule for wind turbines.
On Wednesday, the until recently skeptical CSU state parliamentary group also agreed to targeted easing – after hours of discussion and with five dissenting votes.
According to this, a reduced minimum distance of 1000 meters will apply to wind power in the future in certain areas – for example in forests, along motorways, four-lane federal roads or main railway lines as well as in designated priority areas. Likewise when replacing existing wind turbines, on military training areas and with wind turbines as “industrial ancillary systems”.
This could be used to build up to 800 new plants, said Prime Minister Markus Söder (CSU) after the parliamentary group meeting. This enables wind power to cover almost two percent of the country’s area.
In principle, the CSU wants to continue to adhere to the 10H rule, which defines the minimum distance between a wind turbine and the nearest residential area: this must be ten times the height of the wheel. For a 200 meter high wind turbine, this is 2000 meters. Since the introduction of the controversial regulation, the expansion of wind power in Bavaria has practically come to a standstill.