“Correct the ideological, much too fast expansion of wind energy”

“We will correct the ideological, much too fast expansion of wind energy” in North Rhine-Westphalia, said the Free Democrats’ (FDP) state chairman Christian Lindner in a video on Twitter, talking about coalition negotiations. His comments came just hours before the announcement that Christian Democrats (CDU) and FDP had agreed to form a government coalition in Germany’s industry heartland North Rhine-Westphalia. “We will introduce a minimum distance – we think 1,500 metres [distance from the nearest village] are legally possible.” This would “significantly decrease the areas available for wind turbines”, but would not make expansion impossible. But the state would take the “needs of citizens” into account and “balance the ecological with the physically possible and the economically reasonable”, said Lindner.

Find the Twitter post in German here.

See the CLEW factsheet Facts on the German state elections in North Rhine-Westphalia, articles Coal exit: elephant in the room at vote in German industry heartland.