Wind industry proposes rent limit for land in Germany as competition drives up prices
taz
The German Wind Energy Association (BWE) has proposed a statutory maximum limit on prices for land use among industry complaints that rents for wind farms continue to rise, newspaper Tageszeitung (taz) reported. Although no official statistics on rent levels exist, the wider industry is concerned, the article reads. A few years ago, rents were around 10 percent of the annual electricity revenue of a wind turbine, but taz reported that there are now cases where that number has hit 30 or even 50 percent. The country’s economy ministry (BMWK) has doubted the admissibility of the proposal, with a spokesperson telling the newspaper that “it is not possible to intervene in private-sector lease contracts via the EEG [Renewable Energy Act] tender design.”
Specialist lawyers, however, have a different view. “Defining an upper rent limit as a prerequisite for participation in the tenders should be legally permissible,” said Thorsten Müller, lawyer and head of the Foundation for Environmental Energy Law. The biggest driver of lease prices for land are state forests who have numerous potential wind power sites in low mountain regions. Legal frameworks oblige public institutions to lease out their land to the highest bidder, and as such rent increases become automatic as demand increases. Without action, wind industry representatives fear rising rents could impact the rollout of wind farms. “Sharply rising land rents could become a bottleneck in the energy transition,” said Jürgen Quentin from the Wind and Solar Energy Agency.
Germany aims to roughly double its onshore wind capacity to 115 gigawatts by 2030. The country is, however, unlikely to meet its short-term targets due to delays in implementation. Earlier this year, the government approved a reform package designed to speed up the rollout of wind power by streamlining the approval process for new infrastructure projects.
