Speeding up the approval process sends the right signal to the industry
“We are pleased with the federal government's proposal to speed up the approval process for the expansion of offshore wind energy. Streamlining the procedures in the areas that have already undergone a strategic environmental assessment provides more security for achieving the expansion targets by 2030. However, synchronization with the grid expansion urgently needs to be kept in mind. More wind farms also need a corresponding infrastructure for feeding into the power grid," explains BWO Managing Director Stefan Thimm.
The proposal also provides for compensation payments for expected environmental impacts. “We support an appropriate compensation payment for the expected environmental impact. However, we should also proceed with a sense of proportion here. From an investor's point of view, the proposed amount of the compensation payments is absolutely disproportionate," states Thimm.
In the opinion of the BWO, the temporary measures will not be at the expense of species and nature conservation: "We will continue to be careful in our responsibility for the expansion of climate-friendly electricity production at sea," says Thimm.
“The desire to accelerate must not be at the expense of legal and planning certainty. Accordingly, the rules must also apply to operators over a long period of time. Nobody invests if they have to plan for a legal dispute with an uncertain outcome,” Thimm points out.
Hintergrund: On January 30.01.2023th, 2022, the Federal Cabinet decided on a formulation aid for the implementation of the EU Emergency Regulation (Regulation EU 2577/2022). The focus is on accelerating the expansion of wind energy by temporarily suspending the mandatory environmental impact assessment (EIA) and the species protection assessment. The measure is limited in time for offshore wind areas that will be awarded in the 2023 and XNUMX tenders.
Regarding the compensation payment: The regulation of § 72a Para. 2 Clause 3 provides that the investor has to pay financial compensation in the event that suitable and proportionate reduction measures are not available, data are not available or corresponding data only during operation ( e.g. through operational monitoring). The bandwidth of the compensation payment should be between €500 and €2.500 per MW of the wind farm.