Lo and behold: even more greentech for Berlin’s (closed) Tegel Airport? And in Tempelhof, too? There is currently a heated discussion in the capital that the huge ex-airport areas could soon be used as wind energy parks.
Renewable energies Wind turbines in Berlin: Is former Tegel Airport a possibility?
Suitable sites for wind turbines are hard to find in big cities. Is the Tempelhofer Feld in Berlin a suitable site – or the former Tegel Airport? That is more than controversial.
So far, there are hardly any wind turbines in Berlin. The search for suitable sites is ongoing. The expert for urban development of Berlin’s CDU parliamentary group, Christian Gräff, thinks wind turbines are also possible on the former airport site in Tegel.
Greentech Wind Energy Important for Berlin
“In principle, I can imagine this both in Tegel and, for example, on the Tempelhofer Feld,” he told the “Tagesspiegel”. Wind turbines should also be planned for new urban districts and the districts should be laid out accordingly on a larger scale from the outset, said Gräff, who is his parliamentary group’s spokesman for urban development and building.
Tegel Projekt GmbH is at least thinking along these lines. “If we combine geothermal heat with electricity generation from the air at the Berlin TXL site, we could make a further contribution to achieving Berlin’s climate targets,” said its managing director Frank Wolters.
A spokesperson for the economic administration said on Monday that the results of a potential study commissioned by the Senate are expected in the second half of the year. The analyses and coordination are still underway.
Greentech Berlin: lead by the Economic Administration and the Senate Department for the Environment and Climate Protection
Under the leadership of the Economic Administration and with the participation of the Senate Department for the Environment and Climate Protection and the Department for Urban Development, Construction and Housing, the study is to identify suitable locations for large wind turbines.
It has already started in December 2022 and is being carried out by the Fraunhofer Institute for Energy Economics and Energy System Technology together with Bosch & Partner GmbH, who also prepared the wind potential study for the Federal Ministry of Economics.
Wind Energy Area Requirement Act puts pressure on
The spokesperson of the Nature and Biodiversity Conservation Union (Nabu) Berlin, Janna Einöder, is critical of wind turbines at the former airports. “There is a large bird sanctuary at Tegel Airport,” she told the “Tagesspiegel”. And birds are also on the move at Tempelhofer Feld.
The Berlin Greens are also sceptical. “There is a Tempelhofer Feld law that does not provide for development and to which Mr. Gräff has no answer,” the spokesman for energy and climate protection of the Green parliamentary group, Stefan Taschner, told the Deutsche Presse-Agentur.
“Berlin will have to implement its goals from the federal law regardless of this.”
Berlin needs more renewable energies: potential study prepared
The aforementioned potential study will show where this makes the most sense. He would like to see more commitment from Franziska Giffey (SPD) as the responsible senator, said Taschner. “We won’t achieve climate goals through PR appointments.”
The SPD parliamentary group’s spokesperson for the environment and climate protection, Linda Vierecke, said she was basically in favour of reviewing all measures that could contribute to saving emissions. This, of course, included wind turbines.
“I do not consider Tempelhof and Tegel to be suitable locations for such a project. We should not use the few inner-city recreational areas for this.”
Greentech airport? Or areas for rampant nature and species conservation?
The areas are immensely important for nature conservation and species protection, said Vierecke. “I think we should focus more on photovoltaics in Berlin, in areas close to the city centre, because we still have huge potential there. Small wind turbines on houses can also make sense in individual cases – where there is enough wind.”
According to the Wind Energy Area Requirements Act, two percent of the German state’s area is to be used for wind turbines by 2032. By the end of 2027, the state of Berlin must then designate 0.25 per cent and by the end of 2032 0.5 per cent of its land area for expansion.
Berlin has only 6 larger wind turbines for wind energy
Currently, there are only six larger wind turbines in Berlin. The Senate’s goal is to designate further suitable areas. The Red-Green-Red Senate had already agreed to allow rapid approval of wind turbines by state-owned or private operators on suitable sites.
Nabu and the Bund für Umwelt und Naturschutz (BUND) had already expressed their criticism of the expansion of wind energy in Berlin a good ten days ago.
