Berlin/Düsseldorf (dpa/lnw) – For faster construction of more wind turbines, the federal government wants to make the states more responsible and overturn strict distance rules to residential buildings if area targets are not achieved. This is what the plans of the Ministry of Economics and Climate Protection and the Ministry of Construction, which went into the departmental vote on Wednesday, provide for this. The goal: With strict distance rules, the construction of new wind turbines should no longer be made more difficult in the future.
The federal government wants to set legally binding area targets for wind power on land: 1.4 percent of the federal area should be available for wind turbines by 2026 and two percent by 2032, according to ministry circles.
Different targets apply to the individual countries because there are different requirements for the expansion of wind energy. In North Rhine-Westphalia, for example, 1.1 percent of the state area should be available for the construction of wind turbines in 2026. According to data from the nature conservation organization BUND in March, only around 0.3 percent of the state area is currently legally designated as an area for wind energy. According to the Economics Ministry, around 1.2 percent of the state area has been reserved for wind energy in North Rhine-Westphalia. According to the plans of the federal government, 1.8 percent of the state area should be available by 2032.
In NRW, there is currently a minimum distance of 1000 meters to most residential buildings. According to the exploratory paper by the CDU and Greens in the Düsseldorf coalition negotiations, at least 1,000 additional wind turbines are to be built over the next five years – “also on industrial, commercial, forest and calamity areas and along transport routes”. Elsewhere in the paper there is also talk of “abolishing the general distance regulation”.
On how much space in NRW wind turbines can actually stand is controversial. A study published by the State Environment Agency at the beginning of April considers 1.7 percent of the state to be suitable for this. Another study by the North Rhine-Westphalia State Association for Renewable Energies came to the conclusion at the end of May that around 2.8 percent of the state’s area could be used for wind power.
