News

2 September 2019

Best practice transfer: German, Polish and Latvian experts exchange on citizen wind farms

German WinWind Partners FUB-FFU and Seecon Ingenieure successfully concluded a three days site visit and transfer workshops for energy experts from Latvia and Poland in Schleswig-Holstein on the topic of citizen wind farms.

 

From 26 to 27 August 2019, a delegation of 13 experts from Latvia and Poland visited the municipalities of Neuenkirchen and Süderdeich to find out more about the citizens´ wind farms there. The delegation included representatives of ministries, regulatory authorities, planning regions, energy agencies, municipalities, wind energy associations and non-governmental organisations. The visit took place as part of the transfer activities of the WinWind project.

 

In addition to the analysis of factors that hinder or promote acceptance, WinWind focuses on best practices  to enhance acceptance and seeks to initiate transfers of positive examples. In WinWind, the Land Schleswig-Holstein has the function of a model region, since the northernmost German federal state is regarded as a pioneer of wind power and as the cradle of citizen energy. The latter has contributed to the fact that the acceptance of wind energy expansion has been relatively high, at least up to now.

 

In Neuenkirchen, where a citizen wind farm with 145 shareholders has been in operation since 2015, an intensive exchange with the management and the mayor took place. Further stops in the region of Dithmarschen were the neighbouring community of Süderdeich, where the delegations also got to know the local citizens’ wind farm and the “Children of the Wind” Foundation.

 

Meetings with experts from the Ministry of Energy Transition of Schleswig Holstein and the regional branch of the German Wind Energy Association BWE complemented the delegation's visit on 28 August. Topics of the meeting were, inter alia, the political framework conditions in Schleswig-Holstein, the designation of wind energy priority zones in regional planning, the new citizen energy fund in Schleswig-Holstein and the experiences of citizen wind farms in Northern Friesland. Follow-up workshops are planned in Poland and Latvia this autumn. The findings will be discussed with local decision-makers and transfer perspectives will be explored.

 

Read more on the citizen wind farms in Neuenkirchen.