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reGerman climate activists have come a long way with their youth organization Fridays for Future. CO policy and business plantwo-Saving at a rate and scope that seemed unthinkable just a few years ago. But the toughest fight is still ahead of the climate protectors: it is the fight against the protection of the environment.
The battlefield is fixed: it is the German exclusive economic zone of the North and Baltic Seas. This area, called “EEZ” for short, just behind the twelve-mile zone of German territorial waters, is left to Germany for its use and maintenance. Today it already resembles an ecologically overloaded industrial zone. However, climate protectionists want to reserve space for at least 2,000 to 3,000 wind turbines here. Marine and bird conservationists consider this intolerable.
The escalation of the dispute is imminent. Because now the Federal Maritime and Hydrographic Agency (BSH) has been entrusted with the task of allocating suitable areas in the North and Baltic seas to all interested parties in a new spatial planning procedure. The nautical map of the Exclusive Economic Zone, which is fixed in a first draft, resembles a seamless colored patchwork quilt:
The shipping routes for the giant containers, overlaid by protection zones for Norway lobster fishing, are framed by gigantic offshore wind farms and commercial areas for the extraction of gravel and sand. The German Navy’s torpedo and mine hunting areas overlap with buffer zones for species of seabirds and porpoises. Green politicians and environmentalists call for “zero use zones”, but there are no white dots on the nautical map anymore.
Source: WORLD infographic
Those interested have until November 5 to declare if they agree with the assignments. By the middle of next year, the responsible Federal Ministry of the Interior intends to put the space plan into effect as a legal ordinance. But it is almost impossible that all wishes can be brought together under one roof by mutual agreement.
The problem: To accelerate the energy transition, the federal government promised to significantly expand offshore wind power production. At the same time, however, it is bound by the “European Marine Strategy Framework Directive” (MSFD) to achieve and maintain “good marine status”. Both, at the same time, hardly seem possible.
Source: WORLD infographic
Around 1,500 wind turbines with a nominal power of 7.7 gigawatts are already turning in the North and Baltic Seas. This will almost triple by 2030. By 2040, wind energy production will double again to 40 gigawatts of nominal output, which roughly corresponds to that of 40 large power plants.
The protagonists of the fight are thus determined. On the one hand: seabirds such as the guillemot, the seagull, the red-throated and black-throated diver. On the other hand: wind turbines such as the Vestas V174, whose 85-meter-long rotor blades describe a circle whose surface area is twice the size of the London Eye’s Ferris wheel on the Thames.
3,600 more such turbines would have to be built in the North and Baltic Seas to achieve the German expansion targets by 2040. If giant turbines with a nominal power of 15 megawatts come onto the market, as predicted, there would still be 2,200 towers rotor of this type.
The Naturschutzbund Deutschland (Nabu) believe that 20 or 25 gigawatts of offshore wind power can be managed ecologically at best. For the 40 gigawatt target, to be set by law this year, “in our opinion, there is no room,” says Kim Detloff, Chief of Marine Protection at Nabu.
Zero use zones where human activity is prohibited
Because seabirds tend to fly around wind farms in the sea. The BSH recognizes that the total habitat loss is 5.5 kilometers around a system, says Detloff. For some species, the avoidance radius is even ten kilometers.
“If wind power is expanded to 40 gigawatts, 56 percent of the North Sea area will be lost as a resting place and habitat for these strictly protected birds,” warns the marine biologist. With kittiwake there is also a “risk of collision for a considerable part of the population”.
After all: because you are not allowed to net between wind turbines, fish have new retreat places in wind farms. Nabu expert Detloff sees this nice fact differently: “We don’t know if fish populations will multiply.” Some species win, but there are also losers, says Detloff:
“Therefore, we talk more about a change in the fauna.” The Nabu man calls on politicians to have corridors at least ten kilometers wide between wind farms and marine protected areas and, ultimately, “zero use zones” where all human activity is prohibited.
The Greens see it that way too and therefore accept a conflict with the expansion of wind power. “The condition of the North and Baltic seas is manifestly bad,” says Green Member of the Bundestag Steffi Lemke in a small question to the federal government:
“Numerous scientific reports and condition analyzes confirm that the ecological load limit of the seas has been exceeded, and in particular the North and Baltic seas of Germany.” received, Lemke cautions.
Do users of the North Sea have to get closer?
“Under no circumstances” should new space plans go against these environmental goals. The Federal Ministry of the Interior, Construction and Home Affairs stated in its response that it can be assumed that the new spatial planning plan will contribute to creating a “good environmental status”. However, the ministry left open how this should succeed in parallel with the establishment of large-scale industrial electricity production in the gigawatt range.
After all, the success of the energy transition depends on the expansion of offshore wind power. The new offshore capacities are intended to compensate for the slow expansion of onshore wind power. Furthermore, the Federal Government’s National Hydrogen Strategy will not work without a fully developed offshore wind power system.
The amounts of green electricity required to produce hydrogen in so-called electrolysis plants can currently only be produced in offshore wind farms under economic conditions. Hydrogen is considered essential for maritime, air and heavy goods traffic to be climate neutral after its transformation into synthetic fuel.
The wind energy industry is concerned about the reserves of the German marine conservationists. Too many environmental policy requirements could scare off investors. The UK has just announced a huge expansion program for offshore wind. By 2030, ten years earlier than in Germany, 40 gigawatts of wind energy will be produced here offshore in order to provide all households with green electricity.
If Germany overstates species and marine protection, then German wind industry concerns, investors and project planners could flock to Britain, where there is enough work waiting. Therefore, the goals for the energy transition and national hydrogen production could be in jeopardy.
In the ongoing regional planning procedure, the wind energy industry is trying to boost: For the planned 40 gigawatts, it was proposed that not only “reserved areas” be designated, as planned, but also immediately secured “priority areas” . And the areas should now be set aside for further expansion of offshore wind beyond 2040.
If all this is to find a place in the EEZ, so much is predictable that the other users of the North Sea would have to come closer. Shipping routes may have to be more closely grouped, exercise areas for the German Navy reduced, and mining of sand and gravel under water restricted. It remains to be seen whether all these interest groups will peacefully cede their rights.
