In light of the measures adopted last week to expand wind power, GermanZero and IKEM published a poster that illustrates the enormous complexity involved in the construction of wind turbines: the planning and approval processes in Germany take at least seven years. In view of the current energy crisis, this is too long: the expansion of renewable energy must be tackled immediately. Therefore, GermanZero and IKEM have developed 16 concrete proposals to accelerate the expansion of wind power.
‘Regardless of the Ukraine war and the current energy crisis, we must expand renewables in order to achieve our climate targets. The German government’s recently increased expansion targets for renewables can be welcomed as a first step. But this proposed rapid expansion fails if the mere approval of a wind turbine takes several years. This is what we want to illustrate with our poster,’ explained Prof Dr Stephan Breidenbach, head of the Legal and Policy Team at GermanZero.
IKEM’s managing director, Dr Simon Schäfer-Stradowsky, added: ‘The expansion of renewables has just been established as an overriding public interest. However, the construction of new plants will only pick up speed if all authorities involved make renewables a priority. Legislators must therefore act now and accompany the expansion targets with reforms to planning and permitting law.’
The proposals developed by GermanZero and IKEM, which already take into account the measures of the recently adopted Easter Package, include:
- All federal and state agencies, as well as publicly owned companies, must be instructed to prioritize renewable energy expansion.
- In approval procedures, strict deadlines must be set and adhered to by the responsible authorities. In addition, it should be possible to take the absence of a decision on a permit application as approval.
- The public sector must act as a role model and make land owned by the federal government, the states and other public bodies available for renewable energies.
- For grid operators, clear deadlines must be set for the installation of new plants. They should also have to proactively prepare for potential grid connections. For this, they should be given full insight into the area planning of renewable energies.
The poster – including all 16 proposals and a detailed overview of the current planning and permitting process – can be viewed here.
