Federal Minister of Economics Habeck is relieved: the federal government is launching a "wind expansion accelerator". The law that has now been passed allows the construction of wind turbines and power lines before July 2024 without first investigating the consequences for the environment.
The Federal Cabinet has approved new regulations for an accelerated expansion of wind energy. According to the Ministry of Economic Affairs, the ministers of the traffic light coalition approved the implementation of an EU emergency regulation in a written circulation procedure. It provides that environmental impact assessments on certain areas for wind turbines and power lines can be omitted. This should apply to all projects that start before July 2024.
The regulations are to be attached to the Spatial Planning Act, which is already in the parliamentary process. The cabinet was supposed to agree last Wednesday, but according to government circles, Justice Minister Marco Buschmann had asked for more time to examine the matter. The Federal Association of Renewable Energy (BEE) called the draft law a turbo for the expansion, which Parliament must now quickly decide.
Federal Minister of Economics Robert Habeck spoke of a great relief for the necessary expansion: "Today the federal government launched a wind expansion accelerator that we have not had before," he explained. "In this way we are once again increasing the dynamics of the expansion of renewable energies." This is absolutely necessary.
With regard to bird protection, he added: "But it is also clear that species protection is and will remain important. Species protection is materially protected. There will continue to be protective and compensatory measures." BEE President Simone Peter said there was no longer any excuse for delaying the expansion: "If politicians want it, the turbo for renewables is possible. After years of political blockade, future technologies are finally making progress again." In order for the expansion to be accelerated in the long term, further priority areas for wind energy should also be identified.
In addition to wind energy, the law is intended to limit approval procedures for solar systems, for example on landfills, to three months. It is not necessary to check whether an environmental impact assessment is necessary. The approval for smaller heat pumps, which must be completed within one month, is also to be accelerated.
