SPD and the Greens have reached an agreement with the Union in the Bund after weeks of negotiations, which limits the expansion of wind energy. This is intended to prevent the construction of around 1,000 wind turbines in North Rhine-Westphalia, which had already been applied for and fell under a regulatory loophole following a decision by the Higher Administrative Court of München.
According to the “Westfalenpost”, citing the participating parties, the compromise involves an amendment to the Federal Immission Control Act, which the Bundestag is expected to pass in the next-to-last session, which begins this Monday.
This will exclude investors from submitting applications for wind turbines on areas outside the designated wind energy zones. According to the state government, there are already around 1,500 such applications pending in NRW.
“‘With the SPD and the Greens, we have achieved an important compromise in the wind power expansion: The draft law for more control and acceptance of wind energy expansion will be debated in the Bundestag next week and is expected to be passed in this legislative period’ said CDU leader Friedrich Merz to the newspaper. ‘As a result, we can ensure that at most a third of the applied-for installations can be approved’ Merz added.
SPD faction leader Dirk Wiese said to the newspaper: ‘It’s an important signal that we have managed to find a solution for our homeland and that we have worked together in Berlin. The intense cross-party efforts behind the scenes have paid off.’