Strom aus erneuerbaren Energien: Rückenwind für Windkraft | frontal

Second chance for the town of Warstein in Sauerland For a long time the city council agreed that there was no wind farm in the nearby forest, but today the starting point is completely new: Sauerland is not only suffering from climate change but also due to the energy crisis, which is a serious and therefore significant meeting, Karl has cut down 500 hectares of this forest because hurricanes, hot summers and bark beetles have destroyed 80% of all spruce trees in the Sauerland. Wangen forest farmers. They fight for their economic existence. For us it is still a great catastrophe because the forest has disappeared.

For years we have hoped to be able to offset income thanks to wind energy projects. Forest farmers have been fighting for more than ten years. Construction permits for their wind turbines, so far in vain. Due to two black stork breeding sites, three of the 15 planned wind turbines had to be cancelled, but this is controversial even among conservationists. Black storks do not breed in cleared forests. The federal government highlighted last year that species protection is also a major concern in wind turbine planning, but many citizen initiatives instrumentalize species protection and abuse the black stork to prevent such planning.

In the middle of the tourist region of the Arnsberg Forest, the Citizens' Initiative wrote this joint appeal in 2018 out of fear that the landscape was being disfigured by wind turbines with Sauerland signatory Friedrich Merz, today leader of the opposition in the Bundestag, Six months after Putin's attack on Ukraine, he appeared more supportive of wind energy than anywhere else. I visited the Marsberg wind farm in Sauerland. I support it. There have always been concentrated places, this one is beautiful, it is not aesthetic, but it is necessary for the production of energy in our country. We would have liked to talk to Friedrich Merz about it, but he did not talk to us, he left two written questions unanswered and Katharina Kramer does not want to talk to us either, she had also signed against the At that time she was the owner of the Warsteiner brewery and also I needed electricity at an affordable price.

She has since changed her mind in writing, informing us of my signature in 2018, which arose from my concern about this area being used for tourism. Not without a sense of proportion should it be changed visually, but since the energy crisis the need for expansion of all forms of renewable energy has increased enormously. Without trees, the forest is practically useless in terms of tourism, so perhaps a new business model. As you can see in Lichtenau, there is little energy here today, electricity today mainly comes from wind energy, ten times more than Westfalenwind, the company that wants to operate the wind farm in the remains of the Arnsberg forest.

As much as the city itself, the issue of renewable energy is now being taken with much more urgency and seriousness due to the war in Ukraine and we are seeing that many communities, many citizens and also industrial companies, we say, need their electricity and their attitude. . This has changed enormously, not least because municipalities that save energy must collect more taxes on the 90% renewable energy trade. In Lichtenau, all citizens benefit. Citizens are co-owners of the projects. We have created a foundation here that can distribute 200,000 euros a year to clubs and here we have electricity tariffs for citizens, which means that households here get cheap domestic electricity, cheaper than elsewhere.

All this has even led to a high level of acceptance, that is, the citizens here have a high level of acceptance. The majority agrees and has nothing against the fact that their outlook has also changed significantly here. Cheap green electricity from regional production. What chipmaker Infineon expects at Warstein. The production of semiconductors requires a lot of electricity, which will eventually be installed in wind turbines. Infineon estimates that electricity can be purchased in the Arnsberg Forest and Westphalia. We give numbers, so there are no concrete figures, but we can roughly say that when we had the first informational conversations with Westfalen Wind and the prices were quoted, that was the price at that time approximately at the level that we pay for the electricity grid. , these electricity prices are now almost double south of Warstein of the Wittgenstein circular saws.

There is also little spruce population left here due to climate change. Here too, forest owners near Bad Berleburg have to rethink. Germany's largest new wind farm with 59 wind turbines in these mountains. The investor is Prince Gustav, Wittgenstein Berleburg, together with Westfalenwind. The lord of the castle wants to move to the sea with an investment of 350 million euros. publicly in the initial planning phase. The mayor of Bad Berleburg But don't expect citizen protests like before. Now, in these times of crisis, the acceptance of green energy has increased significantly. a change of consciousness The so-called turning point makes it clear that there is a different attitude here and when it enters the landscape, if you look at it, it will also be visible because most of the forest is no longer there and is.

It is now possible to install wind turbines here, but also, of course, to complement everything with photovoltaic systems with other renewable energies. I think everyone is aware of this need. At the council meeting in Warstein, the television camera has to remain outside shortly before the meeting. vote opinions are still divided Wind turbines are of fundamental importance for our climate I'm not against it, but not in the Arnsberg forest Wind turbines are, but not at my front door it has nothing to do with my front door I think the wind turbines are completely divided. Well, I can also look at them, so there are enough of them, but not in the forest.

My status is that the construction permit was already submitted in 2008 and at this rate we cannot create the climate walls. We need speed for the renewable energy we need. Tail wind for wind energy and this is only possible with quick procedures. The Warstein city council finally votes for the wind farm by a narrow majority, also because the mayor changed his mind. I fought massively against wind energy in the Arnsberger Forest Nature Park. It's been eight years now and then on February 24 of this year, Russia's imperial attack on Ukraine occurred and we discovered the unthinkable: an industrial nation's energy supply is at risk and that got me thinking.

We also want to make our contribution. The country's energy supply on an ecological basis here in Sauerland With the council's decision, the Warstein forest farmers now have politics and administration on their side, as does a large part of the population. Acceptance has changed to the point that it is being reconsidered. prepared and more and more people are approved or asked when it will be possible. Ultimately, it took two catastrophes to rethink Warstein: climate change and the war in Ukraine.