The supervisory board of the Bavarian State Forests has implemented an announcement by Prime Minister Markus Söder (CSU) and Economics Minister Hubert Aiwanger (FW) and deleted the so-called municipal clause for the company. This means that wind energy projects in state-owned forests can no longer be stopped by a municipal council resolution of the respective municipality or a referendum. This is exactly what happened at the end of January in Mehring in Upper Bavaria, whereupon ten of the originally planned 40 wind turbines for the planned Altötting wind farm had to be canceled. This option is no longer available in the other municipalities around the wind farm.
According to Aiwanger, who chairs the supervisory board of the state forests, the decision will “accelerate Bavaria’s race to catch up in wind power”. The voluntary commitment made in 2011 not to erect wind turbines against the will of the municipality concerned has “led to considerable delays and uncertainty in wind projects in state forests” and has put the state forests at a disadvantage “in competition with projects in private forests”. In future, the same rules will apply to state forests as to all private forest owners.
Nevertheless, Aiwanger stressed on Thursday that the interests of the residents would continue to be taken into account, namely “by coordinating the plans before the start of the site selection process.” The minister also announced a draft law according to which investors in wind and photovoltaic projects must offer financial participation to the municipalities and, for the first time, also to the citizens.
According to information from Aiwanger’s ministry, the waiver of the municipal clause applies with immediate effect to all new wind turbine location contracts and also to the ongoing project in Altötting. Although there are already location contracts there, these would have to be concluded again following the referendum in Mehring.