The fog still had a firm grip on the district on this Wednesday morning, but luckily the sun shone in the afternoon. The press conference – followed by a visit to the large-scale PV system near Markt Schwaben – was able to present the “positions of rural areas” on “climate-friendly and crisis-proof power supply” in the best possible light.
The Bavarian Municipality had invited. President Uwe Brandl and Stefan Graf, director of the energy department, met in Haus, very close to the PV system, on the Schomer family farm. They presented a position and demands paper aimed at the Bavarian state government and the federal government.
“We need serious improvements in value creation on site”
This is a reaction to the major challenges that rural areas face as part of the energy transition. Since the entire electricity sector in Germany is to be greenhouse gas neutral by 2035, this would require the installation of PV systems on an area equivalent to 160 soccer fields and around 1,000 residential buildings every week. The need for space is therefore large and space is mainly available in rural areas.
According to Brandl, the municipalities are also generally willing to provide the demand to produce enough electricity. “However, we need serious improvements in value creation on site.” There is still no entitlement for citizens to participate in generating electricity.
It was not for nothing that they met at the PV plant in Markt Schwaben. As Markus Henle reports, the largest solar system in the district is operated by the Eberwerk, of which he is the managing director. The system was co-financed by the citizens through a cooperative and the electricity is supplied to the customers of the Eberwerk, i.e. on site. “Local value creation also ensures local acceptance,” says Henle. After all, the willingness of the population to convert large areas into PV systems is significantly higher if the same population is involved in the use.
Participation, self-determination and justice are important for the energy transition
This is a role model for the Bavarian community day. “Participation” is one of the three main points that the energy transition/climate protection working group has developed for the position paper. This also includes, for example, that the state and federal government support the establishment of municipal energy plants, or that the remunicipalisation of distribution networks is made easier.
Another central point on the way to renewable energies is “Self-determination” for the community day https://www.sueddeutsche.de/muenchen/ebersberg/. “The communities know best where the systems fit,” says Brandl. The planning sovereignty should therefore remain with them. “We have to deliver,” adds Stefan Graf. “But the communities want to decide for themselves where the plant goes.” According to the bottom-up principle, the municipalities should identify potential and report it to the planning associations.
At the same time, the working group – consisting of mayors and experts from the energy industry – would like a potential analysis to be carried out across Bavaria and systematically determined which sector can actually supply how much electricity, also taking into account nature compatibility. This brings up the third major point, “justice”.
“If rural areas provide land,” says Graf, “then the city should do the same.” The demand for PV systems on roofs and built-up areas should therefore be kept as high as possible, and monument protection may also have to be adapted here. In addition, the community day demands that the costs of the distribution network expansion driven by renewable energies be apportioned nationwide.
Brandl and Graf also see room for improvement in other areas. For example, it takes far too long for the building permit for a new PV system to be issued – as in Markt Schwaben. “The approval process took two and a half years,” reports Markus Henle. “Unfortunately.”
The community day makes ten demands on the state and federal government
As a result, the community day makes ten demands that it considers key to enabling the energy transition in rural areas without too much conflict of interest. Point one describes, for example, that the Free State “based on the future electricity demand short-, medium- and long-term Bavaria-wide expansion targets for renewable energies […] name and must efficiently interlink them with the network expansion required for this”.
Point three, in turn, requires that for PV and wind power plants “due to their importance for climate protection, compensation obligations under nature conservation law must be waived”. If the municipal council has its way, PV systems – such as wind turbines – should in principle also be possible in landscape protection areas in the future.
Do the Bavarian communities have everything they need for the energy transition? Uwe Brandl agrees: “You have to have it.” However, which of the points of the municipal day actually meet with open ears at state and federal level remains in the fog.