WinWind Project Thematic Workshop on Wind Turbines in Forests, Erfurt
News from Oct 22, 2018
The German Stakeholder Desk of the WinWind project held its second Thematic Workshop on 18.10.2018 in Erfurt, Germany on the premises of the Thuringian Ministry of Environment, Energy and Nature Protection. The workshop focused on framework conditions, examples and issues acceptability related to wind turbines in forests. The objective of the meeting was to bring together major stakeholders from Saxony and Thuringia, the target regions of the WinWind project to identify region-specific barriers and social acceptance problems of wind energy in the forest and to discuss good practice examples. The event was organized by the German WinWind partners FFU and seecon Ingenieure in cooperation with the Service Unit for Wind Energy of the Thuringian Energy and GreenTech Agency (ThEGA), who has been partnering with the WinWind project from its beginning.
After an introduction to the main aims and tasks of the WinWind project, an analysis of relevant acceptance surveys and the status of wind energy in forests in the Winwind project countries through Rosaria Di Nucci and Michael Krug (FFU), two blocks of presentations followed. Franziska Tucci (Fachagentur Windenergie an Land e.V.) addressed the planning specifications and recommendations for wind energy sites on forest areas in the German federal states. Holger Ohlenburg (Kompetenzzentrum Naturschutz und Energiewende- KNE) analysed ways of avoiding nature conservation conflicts and presented forms of compensation. Manfred Striegl (PRIMUS Energie GmbH) illustrated examples from Gefell in Thüringia and Trogen in Bavaria; Katharina Maaß (Dialogforum Erneuerbare Energien und Naturschutz, NABU) informed about how conflicts concerning nature protection can be faced in particular through dialogue. Finally, Gabriele Perlow, (Energiequelle GmbH) illustrated good examples from Treuenbrietzen in the WinWind Model region Brandenburg. In the final session over 40 stakeholders discussed with the speakers various aspects relating to planning, regulatory and acceptance issues in general and specific cases concerning wind energy in forests and protected areas.
The documentation and evaluation of the workshop will be available soon on the website of the WinWind project.