Chancellor Scholz recently called for the construction of four to five new wind turbines per day on the occasion of the cabinet meeting at Schloss Meseberg. Not just this year, but every year until 2030. This is extremely ambitious, but not surprising. Because the many electric cars want to be charged and the beautiful new heat pumps put into operation. Germany wants to rely entirely on green electricity, which is not generated from fossil fuels. And because the efficiency of wind turbines with an efficiency of 40 to 45 percent is about twice as high as that of solar plants, the direction of German energy policy is clear: build more wind turbines.
Federal Minister of Economics Habeck therefore reports encouragingly that each wind turbine has already generated as much energy after three to seven months as is needed for its construction, operation and dismantling. So what are you waiting for?
Under the argumentative barrage of federal and state politics and under the impression of the consequences of the Ukraine war also in the purse strings of the citizens, the wind seems to turn in favor of the rotors even where the resistance seemed to be difficult to overcome so far. For example, in the Rheingau.
Citizens of the region want to contribute
In the wine region, local parliaments have in the past refused to designate wind farms. But the concerns about a possible gas shortage and an impending blackout in the past winter, the sharp rise in gas and electricity prices and the prospect of being able to heat one's own four walls only with green electricity or hydrogen in the foreseeable future are leaving their mark. The resistance to rotors crumbles noticeably.
Against this background, it seems quite plausible that the votes, in which years ago the majority of citizens in Oestrich-Winkel and Eltville had spoken out against the use of wind energy out of concern for the cultural landscape, would end differently today. Especially when there are no foreign investors at the door who want to fill their pockets with the proceeds from electricity sales, but citizens of the region who want to make a contribution to the energy transition.
As long as the topic in the Rheingau is nevertheless emotionally heated, it should also appear to the irreconcilable opponents of the rotors in the Rheingau as a viable way to ask the citizens about the example of Heidenrod and Hünstetten. The vote on Sunday in the Untertaunusgemeinde Hünstetten gives a hint to the mood. On the many local parliaments, which will deal with the topic again in the coming weeks, this should not remain without effect.