HOW THE CONSTRUCTION OF WIND TURBINES CAN BE LEGISLATIVELY CONTROLLED ON THE BASIS OF PUBLIC INTEREST

Abstract

In order to implement the energy transition, the Federal Republic of Germany has been relying increasingly on wind energy for several years. Wind farms, both offshore and onshore, play an important role here. Nevertheless, wind energy in Germany suffers from a problem of acceptance. Local residents are afraid of visual and acoustic emissions, species protection concerns are raised, adverse effects on the landscape are claimed, and there are also fears of decrease in value of the properties. For this reason, the federal state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania has enacted a law that provides for mandatory participation of citizens and communities in the operating companies of wind turbines (the so-called ‘citizens’ wind farms’). With this law, the federal state shows in an excellent example how state’s influence on the economy and finances can look like in relation to public interests. But this is not the only way the legislator controls these public interest purposes. Recently, it has increasingly been using the ‘overriding public interest’ in legal texts to speed up the construction of wind power plants. These two juxtaposed instruments will be examined in more detail and their suitability will be analysed separately. Finally, the article presents an outlook with a recommendation for action to the federal legislature.