"How wind energy turns forests into industrial areas"

A shortage of space is increasingly pushing the German wind power industry into forests, sparking growing conflict between green energy advocates and conservationists, writes Daniel Wetzel in Die Welt. While only about five percent of Germany’s wind turbines are currently located in forests, in some regions of the country 80 percent of new construction projects are planned within these sensitive ecosystems, Wetzel says. While generally in favour of the energy transition, the major conservation organisation NABU is now deliberating whether to oppose further forest clearance for wind farms in many areas, a move that “would be hard to swallow for the wind energy lobby”, Wetzel says. Should NABU decide to reject wind farming in forests, it would join the ranks of around 600 citizen initiatives already protesting such projects locally, he adds.

Read the article (behind paywall) in German here.

Read more on local support of and opposition to energy transition in the CLEW dossier The People's Energiewende.