Environmentalists want to prevent a planned hydroelectric power plant on the Lech near Augsburg. The Association for Nature Conservation in Bavaria (BN), the Bavarian State Fisheries Association and the State Association for Bird and Nature Conservation (LBV) demanded on Thursday that the energy company Uniper stop planning for the project.
“A new hydroelectric power plant in a nature reserve is the wrong approach. Nature conservation has priority here,” said BN state chairman Richard Mergner. According to the three associations, the company should rather optimize existing hydroelectric power plants. In general, conservationists have been hostile to new hydropower turbines for many years. Uniper, on the other hand, explained that the power plant planned on the Lech would not require such major interventions in the river as with other hydroelectric power plants.
The pre-Alpine Lech was once a winding wild river with a wide riverbed and expansive gravel banks. Like many other bodies of water, it was canalized and straightened and provided with barrages and dikes. In order to change this again, the “Licca liber” (the free Lech) project was started. Work has been underway to prepare for renaturation in the Augsburg area since 2013.
According to the environmental associations, a power plant would contradict the goals of the project, which is to be concretely implemented in the coming years. A Uniper spokesman said the power plant would not jeopardize Licca Liber’s goals. The power plant should be built into an existing transverse structure, which cannot be dismantled during the renaturation project because otherwise the Lech would deepen further in this area.