In order to achieve the goals of the energy transition, more wind turbines are needed. However, finding a location is difficult. Because where a wind turbine can be built is not only determined by the municipalities. Nature conservation, monument protection and many other specialist authorities have a say – which doesn’t exactly simplify the procedure. This is all too clear in the Oberland region, which includes the districts of Bad Tölz-Wolfratshausen, Weilheim-Schongau, Miesbach and Garmisch-Partenkirchen.
Just finding areas where the wind frequency is so high that it is worthwhile to operate systems is not easy. To make the process even more complicated, the planning association has to obtain opinions from specialist authorities. It is the job of the regional officer, Cornelia Drexl, to pre-check the so-called search areas and to inquire about the concerns of nature conservation, the military, the German weather service, forestry and other parties involved. At the most recent meeting of the planning committee in the Tölz district office, you could see her frustration. “We can hardly achieve our area targets with these specifications,” she said, “all in all there is nothing left.”
The weather service, the military and other specialist authorities have a say
When looking for suitable locations, Drexl assumed areas of at least ten hectares in size and a wind speed of more than 4.8 meters per second at a height of 160 meters. According to Drexl, taking into account irrefutable legal requirements, only 8.89 percent of the total area was left for further investigation. That’s not all – or as district administrator Josef Niedermaier (FW), the chairman of the planning association, put it: “The devil is in the details.”
Because in addition to all these strict specifications, the planning must also refer to reference wind turbines – only such systems do not yet exist in the region. And Drexl had to query eight other specialist authorities, or at least tried to do so. Not all comments have been received so far. But what is on the table makes one thing clear: “Of the original 8.89 percent, only 2.2 percent are left,” explained the regional representative.
For example, there is the German Weather Service (DWD). He would like a buffer of 15 kilometers around his weather radar on the Hohen Peißenberg. In a further statement of five kilometers, said Drexl. In any case, the larger buffer would conflict with the priority area.
The statement of the monument protection is still pending. Drexl assumes that a two and a half kilometer radius around landscape-defining sites such as Linderhof Palace or Andechs Monastery must be kept free. The Wieskirche is of particular importance as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. “We have created a concept for the Wieskirche,” reported Peiting’s mayor Peter Osterrieder, with Unesco viewing the entire Pfaffenwinkel as a shelter. “That would be almost the entire Weilheim-Schongau district,” said Osterrieder. If it stayed that way, it would mean the end for wind turbines there – even though the district has the highest wind potential in Region 17.
The areas of forest and water are also unresolved. All that was communicated was that the protective forest along the Alps must remain untouched, according to Drexl. “That would eliminate the whole south.” Talks are planned at ministry level. The test is also made more difficult because there is no “complete data set for the Alpine forests”.
The query to the military drove her almost to desperation, the regional officer continued. As it looks, only the radar Lechfeld and the flight restriction area near Altenstadt would have to be taken into account. Elisabeth Koch, Mayor of Garmisch-Partenkirchen, and Garmisch District Administrator Anton Speer pointed out that the US military had old flight rights and that the NATO school also had to be taken into account. Drexl picked this up.
There is no feedback on nature conservation. Drexl sees the main sticking point there. There is a new report from the State Office for the Environment on “bird species at risk of collision”. Rotors can turn off automatically when a Red Kite approaches. The problem: the cameras cannot distinguish between common buzzards and honey buzzards.
Although the priority areas have not even been discussed with the members, “you are in a supposed dead end,” said Niedermaier. Drexl advocated a different approach: “We need positive planning instead of a precautionary exclusion.”