Gentle elevator music blares in the background as Robert Habeck climbs onto the stage at the Ministry of the Environment. “You have beautiful music here,” says the Economics Minister. “Everything is beautiful here, Robert,” replies Steffi Lemke, the environment minister. This is how the peace appearance of two green ministers begins. And this peace has already begun before a real conflict could break out. That’s how fast it went – with the wind turbines and nature conservation.
The question of birds and the threat posed by rotor blades has accompanied wind power ever since it began its triumphant advance in the country. Opponents of the mills see it as a veritable shredding machine and count the carcasses of birds at the foot of the plants. Project companies complain about excessive approval processes, uncertain authorities and conditions that they perceive as harassment. And right in the middle there are two Green Ministers: One, Steffi Lemke, has taken up the cause of nature conservation and the fight against the species crisis – the ministry hasn’t got much more left, apart from consumer protection. The other, Robert Habeck, has to massively push ahead with the expansion of wind turbines in the fight against the climate crisis. Two percent of the country’s area should be dedicated to it in the future, and the share of green electricity should almost double to 80 percent by 2030.
A contradiction? Not at all, Lemke thinks. “The central message is: This federal government is tackling the two crises together.” The war in Ukraine made finding a solution even more urgent. Finally, renewable energies should also help to become more quickly independent of energy imports from Russia. “With these regulations, we are resolving the previous tension,” she says. “The brake pads are gone, and nature conservation is strengthened.”
Above all, a new clarity should help. For example, new standards are to be anchored in the Federal Nature Conservation Act, according to which “the risk of death and injury of birds at risk of collision” can be classified, according to the key issues paper of the two ministries. The focus is on a list of endangered breeding bird species, which is to be evaluated every three years. Around the breeding grounds of these species, usually around 500 meters, there are said to be “taboo areas” in which wind turbines should not be built. A larger radius – depending on the species, this is 500 meters up to five kilometers – is considered a “test area”. Rotors can only be set up here once an expert opinion has dispelled the species protection concerns.
Approvals take five to eight years – it should be faster now
Even more important is what applies outside of these test areas: namely, nothing. No further tests, no additional requirements. Instead, a “species protection exception” should apply in future approval procedures. Because renewable energies are to be given a special status: they are in the “overriding public interest”. For the authorities, this is a “strong consideration,” says Habeck.
At the same time, a “species aid program” should also be created, which the federal government is to provide with 80 million euros. Wind power operators should also participate, the scope is still unclear. Anyway, they shouldn’t be overwhelmed. With special anti-collision systems or targeted shutdowns, they can possibly also build in the stricter “test area”. However, the costs should not exceed six percent of their income. The main thing is that it is now being built quickly.
So far, says Habeck, an approval process has taken five to eight years. “If we bring that down to this legislature, that would be the speed of light.” From this point of view, the two ministries have just submitted – originally the clarification of the dispute was only due for the summer. Now it is to be passed through the Bundestag together with the so-called Easter package, which raises all targets for renewables. “Unhappily knotted together” were species protection and wind power, says Habeck. “And that knot was untied today.”
Affected associations apparently see it very similarly. “We need a tremendous effort to free ourselves from our dependence on fossil fuels in record time,” says Kai Niebert, head of the German Nature Conservation Association. That is why the proposals are welcomed – which, however, “must go hand in hand with a significant strengthening of biological diversity in our cultural landscapes”. The green electricity association BEE also agrees with the direction. Admittedly, not all obstacles have been cleared out of the way. But it is a “first, important contribution by the two responsible ministries”.