The fact that the world has changed in recent weeks is not only evident from the daily news from Ukraine. In the district of Ebersberg, too, local politicians are suddenly asking themselves questions that until recently would hardly have played a role: should a photovoltaic system be set up on a field to generate renewable energy, or is the grain growing on it too valuable and, given the uncertain situation, must be preserved in the food market? The municipal councils in Kirchseeon were now faced with this debate – and did not come to a clear conclusion.
The area in question is north of the connecting road between Eglharting and Pöring. In addition to the Neukirchen church there, the town hall administration has identified an area of around two hectares that would be suitable for the construction of a solar system. Actually, the available area would be even larger, but because the adjacent church is a listed building, the lower third must be kept free, according to a statement from the town hall. The community has rented the rest of the property to the scouts as a tribal site for years, or is used by a farmer from Eglharting as a cultivation area.
“I’m happy for every farmer who produces food in these times.”
The latter now caused a need for discussion in the municipal council, after all, part of the field would have to give way when the solar system was installed. But is this really the right step in view of the global crises and the resulting supply bottlenecks? At least some local councilors expressed their doubts about this. He is “a big fan of PV systems,” said Andreas Scherer (CSU), but their construction must not be at the expense of agricultural land. “I’m happy for every farmer who produces food in these times,” said Scherer. Dominik Bernert (UWG) argued similarly: “We should rather look at other areas in the community before we pave a nice fertile field with PV here.”
However, Markus Henle, Managing Director of the Ebersberg-Munich Energy Agency, had previously shown the committee how important it is to quickly expand renewable energy sources locally. According to this, the Kirchseeon market falls far short of its goals. “There’s still a lot to do,” said Henle and backed his warning with concrete numbers. So far, only nine percent of the heat supply in the municipality has been generated in a climate-neutral manner, and for electricity it is only seven percent. This puts Kirchseeon below the national average. According to Henle, in order to be able to achieve the district goal of becoming independent of fossil fuels by 2030 in the market town, either 20 hectares of open space PV systems, 3000 solar systems on house roofs, three large wind turbines or seven biogas systems with the corresponding cultivation area would be needed. A mix of all of these is best.
The electricity price should not be made on the public market, but in the district
The PV system in Neukirchen could now be a first building block. With a size of two hectares, this corresponds to ten percent of the entire expansion requirement in the municipality, Henle calculated. For Kirchseeon Mayor Jan Paeplow (CSU), the solar system would have another advantage in addition to environmental protection: “It’s not just about producing renewable energy in the district, but also the electricity price itself.” With your own systems you can make yourself independent of the fluctuating market. “We have to implement projects from which the citizens of the district benefit directly,” said the head of the town hall.
However, the people of Kirchseeon would also benefit directly from the harvest from the field near Neukirchen. The factions of the SPD and the Green List therefore spoke out in favor of examining a dual use for the area. According to Energy Agency boss Henle, there are already corresponding considerations for so-called agri-photovoltaics. However, it remains to be seen whether the symbiosis of electricity generation and agriculture is also an option for the property in Kirchseeon. Initially, the majority of the municipal councils voted in principle to push ahead with the planning of a PV system in Neukirchen.