Businesses criticise wind power restrictions in key German state

Over 60 companies have criticised government plans to substantially limit the possibilities for wind power expansion in Germany’s most populous state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW), Hilmar Riemenschneider writes for Kölner Stadtanzeiger. In a letter to the new state government of conservative CDU and economically liberal FDP, the companies argue that a new minimum distance of 1,500 metres between wind turbines and the nearest settlement would reduce the area available for wind power projects by 90 percent, and lead to a “massive decline” in the renewable energy source’s expansion by 2019, Riemenschneider says. The companies - renewable energy providers, utilities and turbine manufacturers from NRW and other German states - say the new state government’s plans would “abruptly and drastically alter” the legal conditions for wind-power generation and threaten up to a billion euros in annual investments.

Read the article in German here.

Find background on the election in NRW here and key points of the coalition treaty here.