Wind power on Amberg: Citizens' initiative raises alarm about secret plans!

Wind power on Amberg: Citizens' initiative raises alarm about secret plans!

What is happening in Amberg? There has been exciting news about wind power use in the region in recent days. Gerd Estermann from the Feldring citizens' initiative has brought to light the advanced plans for a wind turbine on Amberg. The relevant documents that document the project status show concrete information about a project that includes four wind turbines that are an impressive 200 meters high and equipped with a rotor diameter of 150 meters. However, Estermann criticizes the lack of public relations work and emphasizes that a large part of the population does not yet know about these developments. He also speculates that community residents could potentially benefit from their own electricity tariff, which is of course met with great interest.

According to Rundschau, the company Verbund Green Power GmbH, which is planning the wind turbine, is surprised. The project location is currently being examined in Tyrol, whereby wind measurements are required to check the profitability of the project. The first measurements are planned for this year, and the population will be informed about this via the community newspaper. It is particularly important for project leaders to take local ornithology into account, as concerns have been raised about bird flight routes. Oetz's mayor, Hansjörg Falkner, also announced that no official project was in preparation, and the mayor of Haiming, Michaela Ofner, has not yet received any new information, as the wind measurements are taking place in the Oetz municipal area.

Another project in sight

Another wind energy development approach is now coming from Stadtwerke Amberg and VSB Deutschland, which recently signed a contract for a joint wind energy project south of Köfering. The goal is clear: a sustainable and climate-friendly energy supply for the region. Frank Backowies, Managing Director of Stadtwerke Amberg, emphasizes the strategic importance of the project, which is intended not only to further support the municipal utility's share of green electricity, which has increased from 12% to 60% since 2016, but also to strengthen the economic power of the region. VSB Germany brings more than 25 years of experience in planning renewable energy projects, which will certainly benefit the implementation.

The project itself uses both urban areas owned by the Amberg Citizens Hospital Foundation and private land earmarked for renewable energies. It is encouraging that forest owners can also benefit from additional income through leasing, which can be used for climate-resilient forest management and reforestation. Things will be interesting in the coming months when the exact park configuration is worked out based on wind measurements and environmental studies. After the planning has been completed, there will also be an information event for citizens to involve everyone involved in the process.

Citizen participation in focus

The eueco initiative also shows how important it is to involve local residents. This has published current guidelines on financial citizen participation in wind and solar projects that respond to the changing needs of those involved. These guidelines offer practical support for project sponsors, municipal utilities and municipalities in order to implement effective citizen participation models. The topics are broad and range from the legal framework to suitable types of participation and structuring recommendations. Also new is an overview guide on the topic of citizen participation, which can be accessed digitally free of charge.

Overall, it is clear: the region around Amberg is in the middle of an exciting development that not only focuses on renewable energies, but also focuses on the active local designers. It remains to be seen how the population will react to the upcoming projects and to what extent they will participate in this important transformation.