May 16, 2013
Austria

Debate over planned stop for wind farms in Lower Austria

Austrian Times | 16 May 2013 | austriantimes.at

The ÖVP of Lower Austria announced that they would stop the expansion of wind farms. The interest group IG Windkraft strongly criticises this as they claim that the law undermines the turning point of energy.

According to the new Spatial Planning Law, wind farms cannot be built everywhere any longer. The government of Lower Austria does not want to permit any more wind farms until the law has come into power. This could take up to two years.

The managing director of IG Windkraft, Stefan Moidl, thinks that this takes too long: “This threatens the development of projects and jobs in Lower Austria.

“It is an endangerment for the scientific development and the positive environmental effects of wind power”, Mr Moidl stated.

The Environmental Umbrella Organisation was disappointed that the interest group does not stick to cooperative decisions. President Gerhard Heilingbrunner said that a limit for wind farms was necessary.

The responsible state councillor Stephan Pernkopf (ÖVP) promises that planned projects will be examined thoroughly. However, he said that some wind farm operators ran from one village to the next and thought they could put up a new wind farm on every hill.

“This will not happen. We will review the regulations and there will be clear conditions for the future”, Mr Pernkopf explained.


URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2013/05/16/debate-over-planned-stop-for-wind-farms-in-lower-austria/