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FFU successfully concluded a three days transfer workshop for experts from Latvia and Poland in Schleswig-Holstein within the project WinWind on the topic of citizen wind farms

Delegation of transfer workshop in Neuenkirchen

Delegation of transfer workshop in Neuenkirchen

News from Sep 02, 2019

From 26 to 27 August 2019, a delegation of experts from Latvia and Poland visited the municipalities of Neuenkirchen and Süderdeich in the district of Dithmarschen to find out more about the citizens´ wind farms there. The delegation included representatives of ministries, regulatory authorities, planning regions, energy agencies, municipalities, wind energy associations and non-governmental organisations. The visit took place as part of the transfer activities of the WinWind project (http://winwind-project.eu/), which investigates the social acceptance of wind energy in six European regions with a weak wind energy expansion. The project is coordinated by the Environmental Policy Research Centre.

In addition to the analysis of factors that hinder or promote acceptance, WinWind focuses on best practices to enhance acceptance and initiates transfer activities of selected positive examples. Schleswig-Holstein has the function of a model region, since the northernmost federal state is regarded as a pioneer of wind power and as the cradle of citizen energy. The latter has contributed to the fact that the acceptance of wind energy expansion has been relatively high, at least up to now.

In Neuenkirchen, where a citizen wind farm with 145 shareholders has been in operation since 2015, an intensive exchange with the management and the mayor took place. Further stops in Dithmarschen were the neighbouring community of Süderdeich, where the delegations also got to know the local citizen's wind farm and the “Children of the Wind” Foundation.

Meetings with experts from the Ministry of Energy Transition of Schleswig Holstein and the regional branch of the German Wind Energy Association BWE complemented the delegation's visit on 28 August. Topics of the meeting were, inter alia, the political framework conditions in Schleswig-Holstein, the designation of wind energy priority zones in regional planning and the new community energy fund in Schleswig-Holstein and the experiences of community wind farms in Northern Friesland. Follow-up workshops are planned in Poland and Latvia this autumn. The findings will be discussed with local decision-makers and transfer perspectives will be explored.