Mannheim/Sonnenbühl (dpa/lsw) – The nature conservation initiative (NI) failed with an urgent application against the construction of a wind farm on the Swabian Alb before the Administrative Court (VGH) Mannheim. At the beginning of August, the Reutlingen district office gave the go-ahead for five wind turbines. The environmental association has taken legal action against this. With the decision of the VGH that became known on Tuesday, the clearing planned for January 2023 for the construction of the wind farm can begin.
The 10th Senate did not share the environmental association’s objections to the approval. In particular, he could not convince himself that further operational restrictions were necessary to protect the red kite or the black kite. The decision of the VGH is final (Az. 10 S 2295/22). NI initially declined to comment.
The wind farm near the Lichtenstein castle above the Echaz valley in Sonnenbühl (Reutlingen district) is to be built from five wind turbines with a hub height of 137 meters and a rotor diameter of 126 meters. The wind power company had committed to shutting down the turbines from sunrise to sunset during the red kite’s breeding season. This applies until a camera-based shutdown system can be used. Then the systems would only have to stop when red kites fly in.
A citizens’ initiative, the Regional Council of Tübingen and the State Monuments Office spoke out against the Hohfleck wind farm early on. They argued that the effect of the castle would be affected by the wind turbines. There were thousands of objections to the project. Applications were rejected, objections rejected, then the Sigmaringen Administrative Court and finally the Administrative Court dealt with the case for several years.
