The regional association for renewable energies complains about a persistent backlog of approvals for the construction of new wind turbines in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. “There is no sign of the announced change of direction in the responsible authorities. 1,000 wind turbines are still being processed,” criticized association board member Johann-Georg Jaeger before a specialist conference on the expansion of wind energy in the state. Representatives from the wind power industry and politics are expected in Schwerin on Tuesday.
After years of standstill in the construction of new wind farms, the red-red state government had announced priority for renewable energies and faster approval procedures. But reality speaks a different language. According to Jaeger, only 15 new wind turbines will go into operation in the north-east in 2022, six of them to replace old systems. According to the German Wind Energy Association, twelve new wind turbines were approved in the first quarter of this year. In the CDU-led neighboring state of Schleswig-Holstein, which also accelerated the expansion of green electricity production in the previous year, 71 new plants were approved in the same period.
Environmental and monument protection for blockades?
Jaeger suspects inertia in the responsible offices as the main reason for the continued hesitant action in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. There is still resistance, especially in the areas of environmental protection and monument protection. “Electricity continues to come out of the socket. Why should anything be changed? But wind power is being slowed down, even though the pressure is growing in view of ongoing climate change and security of supply,” criticized Jaeger. He called on the state government to follow words with deeds.
A letter had already been published in October in which the Ministry of Economics and the Environment warned the Offices for Regional Planning and the Environment to implement the amended federal laws consistently. “The basic prioritization in favor of renewable energies expressed in paragraph 2 of the EEG means a fundamental, new legislative course,” said the letter signed by State Secretaries Ines Jesse and Elisabeth Aßmann. Both are expected at the conference in Schwerin on Tuesday. In the past, the average processing time for the construction of wind turbines in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania was more than three years.
Schleswig-Holstein with a better record
Jaeger expressed the fear that the expansion of wind power in the north-east will again be slow in 2023. “Of the 1,000 new wind turbines currently applied for, none will probably be built this year,” he said, referring to the mandatory tenders and the lead times for financing and delivery of the systems. According to industry information, 1,837 wind turbines with a total output of 3,573 megawatts were installed on land in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania at the end of last year. There are 8 wind turbines per 100 square kilometers in the north-east and 20 in Schleswig-Holstein.
From the current 0.8 percent, the state area in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania designated as wind suitability areas is to increase to 1.4 percent by 2027, and to 2.1 percent by 2032. In most regions, however, there is still a lack of updating of the area planning by the planning associations. It was only in February that the state government presented uniform rules for the designation of areas for wind energy expansion.
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