Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania: Wind power is booming despite the approval backlog!

Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania: Wind power is booming despite the approval backlog!

Something is happening in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania when it comes to wind power! In the first half of 2023, ten new wind turbines with a total output of 56.5 megawatts were installed here. This corresponds to an impressive increase of 45.4 percent compared to the previous year. A total of 1,853 wind turbines are now active in the country, which together produce 3,852 megawatts, which accounts for 5.9 percent of the total wind power in Germany stern.de reported.

Although the numbers seem positive, there are still major challenges. While other federal states such as North Rhine-Westphalia shine with 117 new turbines and an increase in output of 97.8 percent, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania has one of the longest approval periods for wind power projects in Germany at a whopping 45 months. The national average is 18 months. One reason for this is the large number of legal changes that have increased in recent years ndr.de.

Need for recovery for the energy transition

The country has the potential for a major expansion of wind and solar farms, but approvals take longer than in other regions. There is a clear need to catch up, especially since many approval procedures are lengthy due to environmental protection requirements and the need for additional reports. The State Association of Renewable Energies informs that the complex processes often act as a bottleneck. Economics Minister Reinhard Meyer (SPD) addressed this clearly: “We have to speed up the procedures significantly,” said Meyer.

An example of the difficulties is the wind farm in Wöbbelin, which has been awaiting approval for around ten years. Despite little resistance from the community, the process has been significantly delayed due to additional information and audits, particularly in species conservation. Even when approval was finally granted, the planned wind turbines were already obsolete, leading to a new application for more modern models. Naturstrom's investors are left with a loss of around 500,000 euros in project development, as the reporting shows.

The federal government is following suit

The federal government has tackled the boredom of the approval process with a draft law. On July 24, 2024, a new law was passed that aims to accelerate the expansion of wind energy and solar projects, as well as the associated building and spatial planning. The regulations from the EU directive on renewable energies are intended to help increase the share of renewable energies in gross final energy consumption to at least 42.5 percent. This initiative could be particularly beneficial for Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania in order to reduce the oppressive approval times. In addition, special acceleration areas for wind and solar parks are being discussed in order to simplify the entire process pv-magazine.de reported.

Clear progress, but not the end of the road yet! Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania has the opportunity to become a pioneer in the field of renewable energies. But as is often the case in life: Patience is a virtue, but it's slowly becoming too much patience if the goal is a climate-neutral country by 2040. It remains to be seen whether the new measures will bear fruit and whether the wind will blow in the right direction!