With its proposal to examine urban forests in the district for locations for wind turbines, the Munich CSU has made it easy and taken the local authorities by surprise.
Suddenly the CSU acts as a driver in the energy transition and wants to push the expansion of wind power. Of course not the Christian Socials at the state level and in the state government; Prime Minister Markus Söder only wants to loosen the completely nonsensical and counterproductive 10-H rule a little and allow a few exceptions to it. The Munich CSU has discovered the topic of wind power for itself and wants to check whether there is potential for rotors in urban forests – and that in the district of Munich, of all places. The CSU parliamentary group leader in the Munich city council, Manuel Pretzl, should refrain from this idea as soon as possible.
Sure, there are few areas in the state capital on which the energy turnaround could be driven forward with new wind turbines. But outsourcing the issue and thinking about systems in the neighboring district on the part of the city is the wrong way to go. In contrast to geothermal energy, which is being continuously expanded by Stadtwerke München in the district to supply the city with district heating, wind power is a highly sensitive and politically highly controversial matter. This is already shown by the debates about wind turbines that have already been planned, for example in the Hofoldinger Forest, where supporters and opponents of the systems are irreconcilable. The city is not allowed to fuel this dispute with its own projects in its urban forests, because the only thing that remains for the people in the district is the feeling of being additionally burdened without consultation and participation.
In one point, however, the CSU parliamentary group leader in the Munich city council is absolutely right: all potentials for possible wind turbines must be explored in the district; because in principle this form of sustainable energy generation must also play a stronger role here. Where such systems are built and how many of them could be compatible should be decided by those who have the necessary expertise and the important proximity to people: the mayors and the city and town councils in the 29 municipalities of the district – and not the Munich city council, which otherwise shows little interest in the surrounding area.
© SZ from 08/25/2021