Status: 07/24/2022 03:52 a.m
The traffic light government is driving the expansion of wind power – partly against resistance in the federal states. Environmentalists are also skeptical. They fear that species protection will be neglected.
Reinhard Utzel is standing on a lush green meadow. He looks at the edge of the forest through his binoculars and sees a red kite. The graduate biologist from Unterallgäu sighs: “A bird that often plays a decisive role in wind power.”
Utzel regularly prepares species protection reports for the construction of wind turbines. It takes a year – at least. Sometimes two or three years pass. If a specific bird’s nest is nearby, the windmill panning ends. The distance rules for this vary. For example, the red kite in Bavaria is 1500 meters. In neighboring Baden-Württemberg only 500 meters.
Uniform rules are intended to speed up approvals
Such differences make planning and approval complicated and lengthy. In order to ignite the turbo in wind power expansion, the Bundestag passed a number of laws at the beginning of June. These include changes to the Federal Nature Conservation Act and the new “Wind-on-Land” law.
The expansion of wind power is defined as an overriding public interest. When it comes to species protection, the same rules should apply everywhere in the future. Federal Environment Minister Steffi Lemke from the Greens hopes that this will reduce the bureaucracy in planning and approval procedures.
NABU fears many legal disputes
Sebastian Scholz also wishes for a rapid energy transition. He takes care of climate and energy issues at the Nature Conservation Union. However, NABU is of the opinion that the federal government is making things too easy for itself. It is a mistake to open landscape protection areas for wind turbines.
The association is also of the opinion that the EU bird protection directive requires a comprehensive on-site assessment of species protection – and not just an assessment of certain species, as the federal government intends. Conservationist Scholz assumes that the new rules will entail many legal disputes. And until then nobody builds wind turbines.
Conservationists are calling for specific compensatory measures
NABU requires comprehensive protection concepts. For example, bats could be protected by turning off wind turbines at certain times. Operators could be required to install systems that detect bird migration and stop the rotors.
Nature conservationist Scholz does not yet trust the announcement by Environment Minister Lemke that more money would be given to species protection programs and compensation areas. According to him, there is a commitment to finance, but the areas for nature conservation are still missing. “Of course that makes us skeptical,” says Scholz.
Lemke emphasizes that species protection and climate protection do not want to be played off against each other. The Greens politician is convinced that the expansion of wind power and compensatory measures can do both: combat the climate and species crisis. The Federal Environment Minister admits, however, that it is a “balancing act”.
Species protection only pretended?
Biologist Utzel agrees that species protection plays an important role in the planning of wind farms. But you have to see where and how this is done. He is surprised at some sudden bird friends: “To be honest, I have the feeling that the species are also being promoted for other interests.”
NABU is also observing how local groups are suddenly being encouraged by people who are not primarily concerned with bird protection, but with maximizing the distance to the next wind turbine.
According to experts, the red kite has completely different problems: it finds it difficult to find food. Farming often reduces the habitat of birds and their prey – not a pinwheel.