A full house at the 22nd Sustainability Forum: many citizens gathered information online and on site at the Brunswick European Law School (BELS) - Faculty of Law about projects, plans and participation opportunities for wind energy in the district of Wolfenbüttel.
Project developer Dirk Staats from SAB WindTeam GmbH presented the preliminary plans for the wind farm between Mascherode, Salzdahlum and Sickte and explained the legal framework conditions that could lead to the realisation of the wind farm with construction starting at the end of 2029 and commissioning in the first half of 2030.
Christoph Löher from the district of Wolfenbüttel, who is responsible for urban development planning law and regional planning law in the Office for Building and Planning, provided comprehensive insights into the approval process and opportunities for participation. He explained that the district of Wolfenbüttel already fulfils the requirements of the federal government, according to which 2.2% of the district area must be made available for wind energy. Last year, however, the state of Lower Saxony stipulated that the district should achieve between 3.8 % and 4 % by 2032. For this reason, further areas are now being included in the plans, including the area between Salzdahlum, Mascherode and Sickte.
Prof Dr Max Juraschek from the Institute for Recycling at Ostfalia University of Applied Sciences concluded by talking about the challenges of recycling wind turbines. While they mainly consist of steel and concrete (approx. 90 - 95 %), the main challenge lies in the rotor blades, which are made up of many different components, plastics, glass fibres, etc. According to Juraschek, rotor blades cannot be landfilled at the end-of-life in Germany; instead, alternative recycling routes must be utilised. These options are currently being researched and developed as part of the "ReKomp - Recycling of composite components as matrix material" project.
Moderated by Prof. Dr iur Kai Litschen (Dean of the Faculty of Law), the concluding panel discussion took place with many questions from the participants present.
