Photo: dpa/Stefan Sauer
In view of the energy crisis, we need an accelerated expansion of renewable energies. Little is known that many permits for renewable energies fail because of monument protection. And unfortunately there are many people in charge here who would have to clear the blockade.
According to a survey by the Onshore Wind Energy Agency, more than ten percent of all wind turbines applied for are rejected for reasons of monument protection. The monument protection is currently threatening to block around 1000 megawatts of wind energy output. These figures are based on surveys and surveys by associations among project developers.
The reasons for rejection often seem absurd to monument protection laypeople: Wind turbines in the line of sight of a monument are assessed as disturbing and not approved – regardless of whether there are already industrial chimneys, high-voltage lines, coal-fired power plants, television towers or advertising signs in the line of sight. A Bronze Age burial mound on a field that is neither recognizable nor marked as such and on which a hunting hide has already been erected blocks a wind turbine in the Uckermark because it would “overwhelm” the ground monument. In Saxony, a wind farm with seven turbines is not approved because it is said to affect a park in advanced dilapidation. In Hesse, a wind turbine in the vicinity of a historic gallows was rejected because it would prevent visitors from empathizing with the impression of the delinquents before the execution.
Monument protection is also a significant problem for the expansion of photovoltaics. In Leipzig, for example, 13,500 high-rise buildings are under monument protection and the responsible office has so far rigidly rejected all applications for PV systems. But charging stations for electric cars in a parking lot or charging stations for e-bikes on the square in Schwäbisch Gmünd have already failed because of the monument protection.
In case of doubt, many courts decide against the wind energy project or the solar system on the grounds that the individual system is not decisive for achieving the climate goals. But the sum of these individual decisions then blocks large area potentials for renewable energies. Legislation on the protection of historical monuments is a matter for the federal states and allows a great deal of scope for assessment, which is often used to the detriment of renewables.
The Bavarian state government now wants to change the monument protection law in such a way that a rejection of renewables is limited to monuments that particularly characterize the landscape. Around 100 monuments are to be classified in this way. In the vicinity of the other monuments, the expansion of wind power is to be given priority. This regulation could serve as a model for other federal states. A new state monument protection law has been in force in North Rhine-Westphalia since June, which stipulates that the interests of climate protection and the use of renewable energies must also be adequately taken into account. This is not a free ticket, but it can be used to better implement photovoltaics, solar thermal and monument-adapted renovations in protected buildings.
The wind energy associations also complain that the monument protection authorities only check very late in the approval process and therefore there is a high risk for investors. It would therefore make sense for the interests of monument protection to be taken into account when planning the designation of wind energy areas.
We need concerted action between the federal and state governments that improves the rules for monument protection when approving renewables and no longer permanently excludes huge area potential. We no longer have time for absurd official and court decisions that block the energy transition and cement our dependence on coal and gas.
