The regional association for renewable energies has raised concerns over a persistent backlog of approvals for the construction of new wind turbines in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. A member of the association board, Johann-Georg Jaeger, criticized the authorities responsible for approving new turbines, stating that there was no sign of a change of direction despite the government’s announcement of priority for renewable energies and faster approval processes.
Jaeger expressed concerns that the lack of progress was due to inertia in responsible offices, particularly in areas involving environmental protection and monument protection. In the neighboring state of Schleswig-Holstein, which also prioritizes green electricity production, 71 new plants were approved in the same period, compared to just 12 in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania.
Jaeger called on the state government to turn their words into actions and implement amended federal laws consistently. He also expressed fears that the expansion of wind power in the north-east would continue to be slow in the following year, with no new turbines being built in 2023.
At the end of last year, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania had installed 1,837 wind turbines with a total output of 3,573 megawatts on land. However, there was still a lack of updating of the area planning by the planning associations in most regions.
The state government plans to increase the state area designated as wind suitability areas from the current 0.8 percent to 1.4 percent by 2027 and to 2.1 percent by 2032. However, Jaeger expressed the need for faster approval processes to increase the number of turbines in operation, with only 15 new turbines expected to go into operation in 2022, of which six will replace old systems.
