“Big corporation benefits from citizens’ energy”

Many German wind power projects that appear to be owned by citizens’ energy cooperatives can be associated with the major wind power planning company UKA, German national TV station MDR says in an article on its website. According to MDR, UKA is Germany’s second largest wind park planner, which has assisted in founding 40 citizens’ energy cooperatives across the country. These have submitted bids in onshore wind power auctions with great success. “Is that really the kind of citizens’ energy desired by the state?”, MDR asks. UKA argues in a letter addressed to MDR that most citizens’ cooperatives lack the resources needed to successfully take part in auctions. However, Germany’s Federal Grid Agency (BNetzA) now intends to examine whether the citizens’ wind power projects that succeeded in the second round of auctions have really met the criteria to be considered citizens’ projects, MDR reports. 

See the article in German here.

See the CLEW factsheets High hopes and concerns over onshore wind power auctions and From survey to harvest: How to build a wind farm in Germany for more information.