Wind power proponents target biodiversity NGO in German state's species protection dispute

A row over wind power expansion and wildlife protection in western German state North Rhine-Westphalia has led the state’s renewable energy association LEE to organize a demonstration against Germany’s Nature and Biodiversity Conservation Union (NABU), according to a dpa report carried by Zeit Online. The LEE, whose members include wind power sector companies, claims some nature and environmental protection organisations are preventing the construction of renewable energy projects and accuses the NABU of being particularly active in North Rhine-Westphalia, renewable energy news platform  Internationales Wirtschaftsforum Regenerative Energien (IWR) reports. The NABU rejects the allegations. "The NABU is not against wind energy," said state chair Heide Naderer. “We want the further expansion of renewable energy sources. But we want the species protection aspects to be taken into consideration." Naderer expressed regret that the species conservation crisis and the climate crisis are being played off against each other.

More than 100 wind turbine projects with a combined capacity of more than 500 megawatts have been slowed down in North Rhine-Westphalia in recent years, according to the LEE, which is planning a protest against the NGO near its Düsseldorf headquarters on Wednesday. The NABU has also expressed criticism of the German government’s plans to expand areas of the Baltic and North Seas for offshore wind power development.