German social democrats consider premium for citizens living close to wind turbines

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BERLIN, Jan. 2 (Xinhua) -- In order to raise acceptance among citizens for wind turbines, Germany's Social Democratic Party (SPD) is considering a financial premium for citizens that allow wind turbines in their neighborhood.

With this concept, "those who accept wind turbines in their neighborhood and thus make the expansion of renewable energy possible are rewarded", Matthias Miersch, SPD lawmaker told the newspaper Neue Osnabrucker Zeitung (NOZ) on Thursday.

The measure would include money for the municipalities in Germany, but Miersch stressed that in addition to that "we must also create direct financial incentives for the citizens who live in such areas."

With the proposed bonus scheme, the SPD is also seeking to limit the possibility of German citizens to take legal action to prevent wind turbines in their neighborhood. According to Miersch, Germany would "no longer be able to afford lengthy planning processes" if it wanted to master the enormous challenge of the energy transition.

Germany's minister for economic affairs and energy Peter Altmaier had also criticized lengthy approval processes for wind power. The problem would be that there were currently "more wind energy tenders than ever before" but at the same time, there were too few building permits, minister Altmaier stressed.

German onshore wind expansion has almost come at standstill after a long period of growth. According to the German Wind Energy Association (BWE), installed output had been around 80 percent below the previous years' levels in 2019.

Resistance of German citizens against wind energy has noticeably increased in Germany and greatly decelerated the expansion of wind power in Germany. According to estimates by Nikolai Ziegler, chairman of German citizens' association, about 1,000 citizens' initiatives were currently fighting against wind power projects.

The German Green party supported the SPD's plans to tackle these problems by implementing a bonus for accepting wind turbines closer to homes in order to raise the acceptance for wind power because the wind industry would need "political tailwind." Enditem

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