The Regional Planning Association (RPV) wants to make progress with the designation of priority areas for wind turbines in the Munich region. That is why the planning committee of the association set the course on Tuesday in Oberhaching to start work before the formal decision to set up the plan. Time is pressing after the federal government has passed the Wind-on-Land Act, even if around 1.1 percent of the area in the region only has to be named by the end of 2027, instead of the end of 2026 as previously thought by 1.8 percent of the area. About 400 wind turbines are under discussion in the city of Munich and the eight districts from Landsberg to Ebersberg and Freising to Starnberg.
The 30-strong planning committee, which includes representatives of the city of Munich, the districts and the municipalities belonging to the districts, passed its resolutions unanimously on Tuesday. But conflicts do emerge, for example when a dozen bikes are to be set up in a large community and perhaps only one in a neighboring, densely populated community. RPV managing director Christian Breu said that there would be “solidarity planning” in which not everyone could be burdened equally. unity will be necessary. Assuming a minimum distance of 1000 meters from residential buildings, a quarter of the systems will be in the open and three quarters in the forest. “You will either step on people’s feet or on nature’s feet,” says Breu.
Where exactly the wind turbines will be located in the region cannot yet be foreseen. But there are some indications. Breu said that solidarity would be required throughout Bavaria if, for example, fewer rotors were possible in the Oberland than required by the federal government. According to Breu, there will be no concept with small areas, but larger areas starting with ten hectares concentrated in certain places. Wind turbines will not be distributed across the region “like a crumble cake”. And new potential areas would be cleared, as the Freising district administrator Helmut Petz (free voters) announced.
The German Air Traffic Control (DLF) wants to reduce exclusion areas for high wind turbines in the vicinity of airports, for example in Erdinger Moos or in Oberschleißheim. Ismaning’s mayor Alexander Greulich (SPD) described this as urgently desirable. According to Petz, recent statements by the DLF go in this direction. The Freising district administrator said that ground-based airspace surveillance should be switched to satellite operation by 2025. He complained that this hadn’t happened earlier, said Petz. In any case, this will free up space for wind turbines in the Freising, Dachau and also in the northern district of Munich. Breu confirmed that at the Jesenwang airfield in the Fürstenfeldbruck district, a wind turbine is already being made available.
The managing director of the regional planning association, Christian Breu, wants to settle rotors in a concentrated manner and not spread them out in the region like in a “crumble cake”.
(Photo: Toni Heigl/)
An advisory board advising the planning committee of the RPV should help to identify points of friction at an early stage. This will include one representative from the city of Munich and one from each district. There are also experts from forestry and agriculture, power infrastructure and the Federal Nature Conservation and the State Association for Bird Protection. The wind caretaker for the administrative district of Upper Bavaria, Peter Beermann, will also be a member of the advisory board, as will Professor Michael Schmitt from the University of the Federal Armed Forces in Neubiberg, who is an expert on the subject of mapping natural areas. As President of the Bavarian Hunting Association, Deputy District Administrator Ernst Weidenbusch (CSU) claimed that the hunters should also have a say. As a result, the concern was voiced in the committee that if there were too many interest representatives, the advisory board could “discuss one another to death”. The chairman of the planning committee, Oberhaching’s mayor Stefan Schelle (CSU), countered that the advisory board was not a commission with decision-making power. The committee will decide. And urgently and quickly.
“Buking your head in the sand is the wrong posture on this subject.”
Schelle warned against inaction in the town halls. “Buking your head in the sand is the wrong posture on this subject,” he said. Without regional planning with priority areas, there is a risk of a disorderly approval of privileged wind turbines. It is only with the help of planning that legally secure urban development contracts can be concluded and, for example, citizen wind turbines can be created. Schelle called on the mayors to first report their existing plans. Then we will start a conversation. He intends to convene the advisory board as soon as possible. The deputy Fürstenfeldbruck District Administrator Michael Schanderl (FW) called for clear criteria for the municipalities and a timetable so as not to jeopardize the previously mutually agreed approach. Schelle said it would depend on good moderation between neighboring municipalities.
Now it’s the turn of the town halls. According to Breu, however, they must not simply exclude areas. Positive planning is necessary. At the suggestion of Starnberg District Administrator Stefan Frey (CSU), the planning committee spoke out against the fact that priority areas for agriculture would still have to be identified in the future when the state development program was updated. That would make the work even more difficult, Breu affirmed. The RPV must now focus all its energy on the wind power issue. More staff are initially not available. “So we’ll start right after the session.”