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Germany Is Dismantling a Wind Farm to Make Way for a Coal Mine
- fencepost 4y agoSo they built a wind farm on the presumably undesirable land around a coal mine, and now they're dismantling (moving?) one or more turbines to open space for more mining. This overall feels really minor.
- bpodgursky 4y agoIt's not important per se, but it's a perfect microcosm of contemporary German energy policy. Eliminate the clean energy sources, put up a facade of green power which is then bulldozed to facilitate the dirty coal baseload power they now completely rely on.
- munk-a 4y agoThe heart of the issue in Germany right now is that the Green Party is absolutely dogmatically opposed to anything having to do with nuclear - they're trading out good clean energy sources for an increased reliance on natural resources because of deeply rooted and fundamentally wrong belief that nuclear is not and can never be a clean energy source.
- chess_buster 4y agoThe heart of the issue in Germany right now is that the conservatives (coal) and the social democrats (gas) had sabotaged the switch to renewable energies during the last decade – which was otherwise well on it's way. This entire discussion about nuclear is just a propaganda trick by the fossil fuel industry, which knows that nuclear can't be build in time. So people will rely on fossil fuels longer because they wait for nuclear while renewables and storage are presented as unattractive. Just like Elon did with his hyperloop adventure to sabotage high speed rail.
- AlmostAnyone 4y agoOh please. There's no "time" until when nuclear must be built or something fails. And it's slow only because of the anti-nuclear sentiment. It's very much possible to build it quickly - just look across the border.
- bryanlarsen 4y agoLook where? Even China takes 10 years to build a nuclear plant.
- AlmostAnyone 4y ago... And that's supposed to be bad? Even a solar project takes 10 years in Germany.
- bryanlarsen 4y agoChina can do a solar EV project in 3 months. So if it takes China 40X times as long to do nuclear than solar, how long would nuclear take in Germany if solar takes 10 years?
- AlmostAnyone 4y agoFortunately it's all about the red tape, not actual construction time. Reduce it and you can build nuclear quickly.
- bryanlarsen 4y agoOr you can reduce the red tape and build solar in 3 months or wind in 6 months. 10 years is not quick.
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- woah 4y agoIt can be damaging politically to admit your wrong about a core aspect of your policy
- grimjack00 4y agoThey don't have to admit being wrong, they should just state that they have evolved and now have different thoughts on the subject.
- josefx 4y agoThey have been dismantling entire towns in that area starting from 2006[1] to keep the coal plants in the area supplied. It would probably be less dramatic if it was just a targeted attack on a random wind farm. [1] https://www.spiegel.de/panorama/rwe-darf-grundstuecke-von-landwirt-in-luetzerath-abbaggern-a-b12aeddc-6d46-4277-9beb-7b77bfdc6aaa https://www.spiegel.de/panorama/rwe-darf-grundstuecke-von-la...
- netzwerke 4y ago
- Mortiffer 4y agoOverblown title. -Its not the government but a private energy company -The turbine is 20+ years old and was scheduled to be decommissioned at this time. "A spokesperson for Energiekontor, which built and runs the rest of the windfarm, said a time limit to its operational permit meant it expected to have to dismantle the five remaining turbines by the end of 2023" "Rebuilding the turbines to make way for the expanding mine was part of the original agreement that allowed the windfarm to be constructed in 2001, he added, and not a result of a recent change of German energy policy"
- perihelions 4y agoThis seems to be the same lignite mine ("Garzweiler") from this other story. Its expansion's also destroying an entire registered village, with a population of around 90. https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/13/world/europe/germany-coal-energy-climate.html https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/13/world/europe/germany-coal... ("Germany’s New Hunger for Coal Dooms a Tiny Village") You can see a wind farm in the background (maybe it's the same one?) edit: I believe it's the same one. Wikipedia has a map what's going on: the expansion is labelled "Garzweiller II - 2045". The village "Lützerath" is within in boundaries, and there's a "Keyenberg" just north of it. So the Times' photograph's angles would seem reasonable. (The OP doesn't name the wind farm, but the linked Guardian article identifies it as a "Keyenberg"). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garzweiler_surface_mine#/media/File:Rheinisches_Braunkohlerevier_DE.png https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garzweiler_surface_mine#/media... (map) https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tagebau_Garzweiler#/media/Datei:Garzweiler_surface_mine_a61_wanlo_2019_2.jpg https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tagebau_Garzweiler#/media/Date... (aerial view)
- perrygeo 4y ago> prioritization of energy security over clean energy in Europe’s biggest economy Exactly. This is a market signal that coal is far from over. As a global resource, coal is ubiquitous. We have existing tech and infrastructure to burn it. (Unlike the more valuable natural gas and petrol, which are in the hands of a few producers and prone to erratic leadership and price fluctuations.) Many regions across the world have access to coal deposits of various quality, why would they not use them? Because coal is "bad for the environment"? Mkay. Coal is a convenient and nearby energy source. It's quite obvious that affluent Europe is turning to coal as quickly as possible, abandoning or diluting its green-energy rhetoric. We'll burn coal and someone else will deal with pollution, climate change, etc.
- ChuckNorris89 4y ago>why would they not use them? Because coal is "bad for the environment"? Mkay. Because burning coal is literally killing us slowly. Try breathing in a city that burns coal and tell me how you feel after a few weeks.
- perrygeo 4y agoYet Germany is still implementing pro-coal policies. Not saying it's right, just that it is.
- ChuckNorris89 4y agoThey have a huge manufacturing industry to feed and no energy, what else could they do to stay in business? So now the greens and their voters will be breathing in coal soot all winter because that's "way better" than the zero emissions nuclear energy. /s If this isn't bitter sweet irony, I don't know what is.
- pencilguin 4y agoIt is not. It is just a war emergency. Getting those ramshackle old nukes into good-enough shape to turn back on, and then running them, was correctly recognized as much more expensive, and otherwise riskier besides, than building out renewables. That was proceeding on schedule. The gas shortage upset schedules. Had they chosen not to build out renewables as they did, they would be in even worse trouble now.
- uri4 4y agoAnd what are Germans supposed to do? Freeze to death? If wind farm would provide enough energy, this would not be necessary!
- tomlockwood 4y agoAnyone who's been to Germany will immediately know that building anything in Germany may require dismantling a wind farm - they're everywhere.
- growt 4y agoThey also wanted to clear a whole forest for that mine. After lots of protest it looks like at least parts of it may be preserved. That forest will most likely do more good for the climate than five wind mills. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hambach_Forest https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hambach_Forest
- legitster 4y agoI read something crazy about how Germany has enough peak renewals capacity to provide something like 150% of their energy needs. But it is just not sunny or windy enough so they have one of the most overbuilt renewables grid for the least amount of return.
- pencilguin 4y agoThere is nothing wrong with overbuilding renewables capacity. Everything it produces can be used, somewhere.
- legitster 4y agoI think you misunderstood. They have build wind turbines and solar panels that are producing less than 15% of what they are rated for, owing to unfavorable geography.
- pencilguin 4y agoThe price is such that 15% is plenty. When I put up my solar panels, they will be propped up like accordion folds to pick up morning and afternoon light, because they are getting so cheap.
- pencilguin 4y agoBTW, the wind farms produce "quite a lot* more than 15%.
- SevenNation 4y agoTFA links to another article with more details - including images. It notes that there's more at stake than just wind/coal: > The population from several municipalities in the area west of Cologne had to be relocated due to the Grazweiler mine expansion. In addition to the location of the wind farm, RWE is taking an area in and around the small town of Lützerath. It will be completely evicted and demolished. https://balkangreenenergynews.com/wind-farm-in-germany-is-being-dismantled-to-expand-coal-mine/ https://balkangreenenergynews.com/wind-farm-in-germany-is-be... This is some next-level desperation for lignite.
- netzwerke 4y ago
- simonblack 4y agoIt's usually a bit easier to shift a Wind Mill than to shift a coal mine.