German Wind Projects Hit Intense Citizens’ Protests, Dividing Once Harmonious Communities

Despite phony wind lobby surveys claiming that over 90% of Germans support an expansion of wind power (and only a 5% fringe oppose), German wind park projects have hit the brick wall of intense citizens’ protest.

German protesters demand a stop to the “madness” of the industrialization of nature. Image: proNatur Citizens Initiative. 

For example, German environmental protection group www.naturschutz-initiative here reports how the approval for three wind turbines in the Butzbach municipal forest granted by the Giessen Regional Council on 12 October 2018 has been deemed illegal.

According to their press release:

After the discussion meeting on 22 January 2020, the administrative court revoked the permit on 28 January 2020. The environmental association Naturschutzinitiative e.V. (NI) had taken legal action against the State of Hesse primarily because in its opinion the permit violates European law. For example, exceptions to the ban on killing wasp and buzzard were permitted which are not compatible with the European Birds Directive.”

Huge protester turnout in Odenwald

In the region of Odenwald/Rothenberg, a planned additional wind farm of 13 turbines, each 250 meters tall, on the ridge between Rothenberg and Beerfelden was met with fierce protest from 300 demonstrators, reports regional online site Fact.de here.

According to Fact.de, “It was a strong appearance of the young Rothenberg citizens’ initiative proNatur, with support from many parts of the Odenwald.

What’s really impressive: the proNatur citizens protest group had been founded just 6 days earlier!

Irmgard Neuer, spokeswoman of the citizens’ initiative said: “A good 300 people of all age groups had gathered at the gymnasium in Rothenberg with banners, drums, whistles and warning vests to loudly oppose the planned additional wind farm of enormous dimensions in the region.”

“No positive effect on nature”

One of the protest mobilizers, leader Vera Krug of Siedelsbrunn, admonished her fellow protesters “not to let up and to inform all fellow citizens about the negative effects of the industrialization of nature”.

“No destruction of nature ever has a positive effect on the climate”, Vera Krug stated.

Local citizens fear that the quality of life in the area would be severely damaged by the installation of 13 huge wind turbines “without any real benefit for the climate”.

Fact.de reports:

Before the demonstration at the village center broke up, ‘everyone agreed that the destruction of nature by wind industry plants should not be allowed either in the Odenwald or in any other forest’.”

Wind turbine proponents were surprised by the large protester turnout.

Bitter divisions in once peaceful communities

Wind energy opposition has become an extremely  polarizing issue in Germany, one that has led to bitter divisions in once peaceful communities, especially those in rural areas.

The issue of rural wind park industrialization has become such a hot topic that according to Fact.de: “Ruth Bender of the Wall Street Journal had traveled from Berlin to report on the demonstration. She stayed overnight at the local “Hirschen” and talked to several protagonists on site. The Südwestrundfunk (SWR) had also sent a camera team to Rothenberg for reporting.”

7 responses to “German Wind Projects Hit Intense Citizens’ Protests, Dividing Once Harmonious Communities”

  1. Stephen Way

    Wind turbines are a huge blight on all open space and should all be disallowed and dismantled.

  2. Projekty větrné protesty energie v pokrokovém Německy naráží na intenzivní zpátečnických občanů a rozdělují kdysi harmonické komunity - Reformy.cz
  3. John F. Hultquist

    Are the initial towers, built some years ago, being maintained and/or replaced?
    Things with moving parts have a tendency to wear.
    Some have failed catastrophically but that seems to be a small number of the total. Nearest to me are 20 km and, I think, they are serviced as needed.

  4. drumphish

    An analogy would be how a water distribution system is constructed, to be reliable infrastructure, not haphazard, will be to the advantage of a community.

    If everyone were required to provide water for themselves only, just a water well you have to have dug on your own, everyone would be at a disadvantage, no water tower to have an ample supply, just what the pump can do from each individual well with no copious amounts of water storage.

    Not the most practical approach as to how a water system is developed, the infrastructure would be flawed from the beginning. You won’t have the amounts of water you would need when a fire occurs. That’s when you want a heavy flow of water and the water tower does provide the oomph to make it happen, the pumper truck just makes it happen a little bit faster.

    A water system is the way to go if you want to alleviate problems like fires.

    For wind turbines, they cannot collectively provide a steady supply of energy in the form of electricity when compared to a coal-fired power plant, can’t be done.

    For something that would be of benefit, just add a water well at the base of each wind turbine, just drill a well for water and add a pump, you’ll have a new supply of water for potable use and/or irrigation. Really can’t go wrong when you can obtain water with a wind mill, been done for a long time, the wind industry really should think about it.

    You can compare a water tower with a million gallon capacity to a coal/gas power plant providing electricity 24/7 with few interruptions, very reliable systems when developed properly.

    If the only way you could have electricity would be with a wind charger of your own and have no distribution system, you would not be as safe, more at peril, easy to deduce that.

    A steady supply of electricity from a coal-fired power plant is going to be the most beneficial for the consumer, not wind parks that can be fickle and absent of generating power when the wind dies down.

    Coal is a natural battery, stored energy from the sun does do the work required. Just have to condense it to electricity. How it is done in the real world.

    The protesters doth not protest too much.

    They are displeased with the outcome.

    The wind turbine corporations need to quit while they are behind. lol

  5. Hermar

    Wind energy is inefficient, expensive, destabilizes the grid, increases temperature and favors drought:
    – Miller & Keith: Climatic impacts of wind power, Joule 2, 1–15 December 19, 2018
    – Armstrong, A. et al.: Ground-level climate at a peatland wind farm in Scotland is affected by wind turbine operation. Environmental Research Letters 11(4): 044024, 2016
    Not to mention all the concrete which is the second biggest “climate killer” after the military-industrial complex and before the animal killing industry.

    Better: cold reactions, cold fusion, LENR or whatever you want to call it. According to NASA scientist Dennis Bushnell, it’s up to 3 million times more efficient than chemical reactions.
    Brilliant Light Power and Leonardo Corporation are close to market entrance.

  6. Weekly Climate and Energy News Roundup #397 | Watts Up With That?
  7. Weekly Local weather and Power Information Roundup #397 – The Daily Tab

    […] German Wind Projects Hit Intense Citizens’ Protests, Dividing Once Harmonious Communities […]

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