Düsseldorf (dpa / lnw) – According to the will of the CDU and the Greens, residents who live near new wind farms or completely renovated systems should have a legally guaranteed right to participate financially in such projects. “Experience has shown that people want to be involved in the energy transition and are more open to new systems if they see a direct benefit for themselves,” says a joint motion by the coalition parties. It is to be introduced in the state parliament together with a draft law in the coming week, as the heads of the government factions announced on Tuesday in Düsseldorf.
A “Citizens’ Energy Act” should give local residents and municipalities a direct share in the financial proceeds from wind turbines next year and thus provide incentives to plan and implement corresponding projects on site. In concrete terms, project sponsors should be obliged “to set up a liability-limiting company for new wind farms and to offer shares of at least 20 percent in this company to residents and municipalities in the immediate vicinity,” as stated in the application by the CDU and the Greens. The obligation should also apply to completely renewed systems (“repowering”). The law is scheduled to come into force by the third quarter of 2023.
The coalition factions instruct the state government “to set up a citizens’ energy fund together with the NRW.Bank, which specifically supports wind energy projects of citizens in project development with venture capital”.
With changes to the building code, the coalition factions also want to overturn the general minimum distance of 1000 meters between repowering systems and residential buildings. As a result, around 80 additional systems could be modernized in NRW, said Vice Chairman of the Greens parliamentary group Michael Röls. The prerequisite for repowering is always that the systems then have to have lower emissions than before – even if they are usually expanded higher – explained CDU parliamentary group leader Jan Heinisch.
In addition, by the end of May 2023 at the latest, the federal legal requirement, according to which a general minimum distance may no longer be applied in designated “wind energy concentration zones”, explained the CDU and Greens in their application. In the medium term, the distance rule should become completely superfluous.
The coalition factions underline in their draft law that the accelerated expansion of wind energy is necessary in order to achieve the climate targets of the state and federal governments as well as more security of supply. “The state government therefore wants to remove obstacles that impede the expansion of wind energy at state level.”
In their coalition agreement, the CDU and the Greens have set the goal of creating 1000 additional wind turbines in NRW within this five-year electoral period.
