Status: 10/01/2021 5:33 p.m.
Scientists propose to make the Ahr valley a model region for renewable energies. Many residents are in favor of this, but at the same time have to bridge emergencies.
In the boiler room of Werner Sicken’s house in Altenburg an der Ahr, there are two large gray oil tanks, each of which holds four thousand liters. During the high tide, both “swam up”, says Sicken, but they survived it unscathed. In a few days, the tanks should be refilled with heating oil and a new heating system delivered. “Two days after the flood, I called my heating engineer,” says Sicken. At first, ecological aspects did not play a role. “I had to react quickly. You knew that winter would soon be coming again.”
A local heating network based on renewable energies
As for many local people, climate protection and sustainability are important to him. As a survey by the Energy Agency Rhineland-Palatinate from September shows, 84 percent of the affected residents surveyed in the Ahr Valley want a long-term, sustainable heat supply – not least because extensive areas were contaminated by leaked heating oil as a result of the flood.
“The disaster showed that we have to rethink,” says Alfred Sebastian, Mayor of Dernau, a few kilometers from Altenburg. Together with the energy agency, Sebastian deals with the future heat supply for the community. The citizens should be involved through meetings. The idea preferred so far: a local heating network that heats the place based on renewable energy. One is currently considering which energy sources are most suitable for this.
But the time pressure is great, because the previous emergency solutions – for example mobile heating containers – are only supposed to be in use this winter. The switch to ecological alternatives should take place as early as next year. If Mayor Sebastian has his way, not only in Dernau, but also beyond: “We hope that the entire Ahr valley can be considered as a model region in order to test future-proof heating concepts.”
No more “fossil wrong decisions”
Urban Weber, physics professor at the Technical University in Bingen, has already worked out specific ideas with other researchers. “Ahrtal becomes SolAHRtal” is the name of their concept paper. “The aim is for the Ahrweiler district to be 100 percent renewable energies in 2027,” says Weber. For climate neutrality, two strategies would have to be pursued in parallel: On the one hand, synergies should be used in concrete reconstruction and, for example, photovoltaic systems should be installed directly when repairing roofs. The ecological target image must also be taken into account when planning, so that, for example, no more natural gas pipelines are laid. Such “fossil wrong decisions” should now be avoided.
Overall, large-scale, ambitious changes would also be required to achieve the 2027 target: For sustainable power supply alone, six to ten wind turbines would have to be built in the district and 35 hectares of open space would have to be built on for photovoltaic systems – annually, as the scientists believe have calculated the concept paper. In addition, there would be numerous solar heat collectors on sloping surfaces to supply heat to the district. Is that politically feasible?
Political skepticism
Cornelia Weigand, Mayor of Altenahr, is particularly skeptical about land use, even if she supports the idea of a model region. The district lives from its landscape, viticulture and tourism, she says and therefore advocates “smaller-scale” measures, such as photovoltaic systems on roofs. “For this, however, incentives must also be created,” says Weigand. Anyone who installs such a system when rebuilding their house should get the full costs financed, for example through the state’s reconstruction aid. “You then need the commitment to say: This will be financed as part of a model project – but overall in a way that is compatible with the landscape and space.”
When asked, the Ministry of the Environment in Rhineland-Palatinate also emphasized that the Ahr valley should not become a “test region”: “The local people should determine how their region should be rebuilt, i.e. which measures should be implemented, how and when. We as a country support them in this, for example through various advisory services and financial resources, “the ministry said. “At the same time, we are keeping an eye on our goal of being climate-neutral by 2040 at the latest when rebuilding the Ahr Valley.” The ministry refers, among other things, to the energy agency’s consultants on site in order to promote the development of climate-neutral heating networks.
In the long term, climate neutrality is also the goal for Werner Sicken, who is waiting for his oil heating in Altenburg. He installed solar cells on the roof of his house several years ago. He sells the electricity generated in this way. In a few years, as he explains, he can well imagine converting to solar energy for heating, perhaps in combination with a heat pump. But for the time being he is looking forward to the new oil heating system so that he can get warm through this winter – after all, that is anything but self-evident.