Citizen wind farm

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The term community wind farm designates projects for the realization of a wind farm in which the local population is offered to participate in the project. One of the goals is to offer people who live near the wind farm an attractive investment (and compensation for possible loss of quality of life).

In many federal states, municipalities are allowed to operate economically in the field of renewable energies (RE); If a renewable energy project (e.g. a wind farm) is economically successful, the dividends from it can have a positive influence on the budget and asset situation of this municipality.

Project planning phases

Project planning

A community wind farm is preceded by a complex planning process; it is carried out by specialized planning offices (also called 'project engineers'). You can name phases.

At the beginning there is a preliminary assessment of the suitability of the site in order to assess the wind chances and legal feasibility of the project. Subsequently, the carried establishing a project company ; at the same time or later, citizens are offered a financial contribution. As part of a so-called area protection scheme , all land owners in the project planning area are "brought to one table". One tries to negotiate and conclude similar lease contracts with them.

This is followed by a detailed location analysis (comparative analysis and selection of system types or manufacturers). Environmental concerns are also included in the analysis. The necessary internal infrastructure expansion (including cable and transport routes) is determined.

In the grid connection phase , it is checked and negotiated how the future wind farm can be connected to the regional distribution network as economically as possible . Parameters such as

  • Investment costs
  • operating cost
  • Financing (interest, loan period, etc.)
  • Revenue structure

constantly weighed against each other ( trade-off ). The approval procedure in accordance with BImSchG is carried out on the basis of the planning documents .

Financing planning

A financing plan is drawn up based on the forecast investment costs. In the course of negotiations with banks, the investor chooses a mix of equity and debt. As part of the financing planning, the targeted equity share is raised from the citizens.

Project implementation

As part of the project implementation, system manufacturers and project planners create a construction schedule. Sometimes there is a general contractor who hands over the entire project turnkey; sometimes building trades are awarded individually.

Operational management

At the end, the wind farm is put into operation. In the further course, however, the operation must be monitored over the further project period, which usually corresponds to the financing period. This so-called operational management is usually carried out by external service providers in addition to the planning phase. Most planning offices also provide capacities for technical and commercial management for a fee. As a rule, the service provider is selected for the first time at the end of the project planning phase and can, but does not have to, include the entire operational management phase of up to 20 years.

Company forms

In Germany as a developed wind energy country, two types of company have established themselves for community wind farm projects. These are the eG and the widespread GmbH & Co. KG .

Both types of company are often formed on the initiative of regional economic actors (banks, regional energy providers (e.g. municipal utilities) or local farmers). They are often networked with one another on different levels (e.g. through trusting business relationships or within the framework of a local political mandate) and for this reason have an eye for regional economic cycles.

Differences become clear when it comes to the activities to be carried out in the context of project planning and implementation. The cooperative has advantages when it comes to taking on services for the members involved. In contrast, the GmbH & Co. KG has advantages when it comes to taxing the operating result. On the other hand, the cooperative offers the individual actors a less capital-based option for co-determination. In addition, the taxation of the operating result compared to the limited partnership takes place here at the level of the cooperative and is therefore associated with less internal work for the individual partner.

Critical assessment of community wind farms

The economic success of the community wind farms is controversial. Non-representative evaluations by Werner Daldorf, the Board of Directors of the Investor Advisory Board of the German Wind Energy Association (BWE), show that the majority of the companies did not generate the forecast distributions. The reason for the unsatisfactory performance of many wind farms is, in particular, that since 2000 the wind in Germany has been significantly weaker in most of the years than was to be expected according to the wind index. The wind index is the working basis of the wind experts, whose yield forecasts in turn form the basis for assessing the profitability of wind farms. This wind index was corrected downwards several times in the years between 2006 and 2012 - in some regions of Germany by more than 15 percent. In other words, the previously constructed wind farms have been systematically overestimated in terms of their potential yield.

The actors involved in community wind farm projects are of the same type as in other forms of society. The most important difference can be seen in the area of ​​regional added value. For example, community wind farm projects result in higher trade tax income for the respective municipality, since the company is usually based in the respective local municipality. With the participation primarily of the local population, the tax revenue is supplemented by the communal share of income tax.

Another advantage of community-oriented wind farm projects is the higher level of acceptance of these projects due to the appropriate financial compensation for the local population. In addition, regional construction and project planning companies and regional credit institutions benefit to a greater extent. At the same time, artisanal service companies with new permanent jobs for service and maintenance of the community wind farms are often created on site. Consequential effects, which can be traced back to a large extent to the business models of service companies, are in part also the IT network expansion in sometimes very sparsely populated municipalities.

The effects in the area of ​​nature and environmental compatibility through stronger noise and light immissions, the impairment of the landscape and the soil sealing are to be assessed negatively. In addition, there is a tendency for banks to want to specialize in lending in this sector of the economy, which can sometimes lead to greater cluster risks (if it is not adequately distributed among several actors). Most of the negative points, however, apply to wind turbines in general and can therefore not be blamed on the citizen concept.

See also

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Note: which is by no means always the case, see e.g. B. FAZ.net November 23, 2014: One fifth of wind farms do not pay any return
  2. ↑ Brochure Wind Energy in Citizens' Hands, pp. 5-11 ( Memento of the original from January 24, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF; 4.0 MB) @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.wind-energie.de
  3. ↑ windcomm.de: Guideline Bürgerwindpark, pp. 20–26 ( Memento of the original from October 4, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.windcomm.de
  4. ↑ Gunther Latsch, Anne Seith and Gerald Traufetter: ENERGY: The great calm . In: Der Spiegel . No. 5 , 2014 ( online ).
  5. ↑ http://www.rhein-main-presse.de/wissen/vermischtes/ein-unternehmerisches-ris-besteht-immer_14715065.htm