Germany Is Dismantling a Wind Farm to Make Way for a Coal Mine

https://oilprice.com/Latest-Energy-News/World-News/Germany-Is-Dismantling-A-Wind-Farm-To-Make-Way-For-A-Coal-Mine.html

by mikece • 4 years ago

76 67 4 years ago

fencepost• 4 years ago

So 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.

bpodgursky2• 4 years ago

It'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-a2• 4 years ago

The 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.

josefx• 4 years ago

They 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-la...

Mortiffer• 4 years ago

Overblown 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"

elvin_d• 4 years ago

Yet gov banned nuclear energy; now it's becoming ridiculous.

rsj_hn• 4 years ago

Didn't they change this policy with the current energy crisis?

perihelions• 4 years ago

This 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... ("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... (map)

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tagebau_Garzweiler#/media/Date... (aerial view)

perrygeo5• 4 years 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.

ChuckNorris893• 4 years 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.

perrygeo5• 4 years ago

Yet Germany is still implementing pro-coal policies. Not saying it's right, just that it is.

quitit• 4 years ago

And the radioactivity problem (amongst the acid rain problem, the CO2 problem, the smog problem and the miner's health problems)

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/coal-ash-is-more-...

BirAdam• 4 years ago

Burning coal will kill slowly, and freezing to death in German winter will kill quickly.

Rhedox• 4 years ago

So we should just ignore the climate crisis?

perrygeo5• 4 years ago

No, we should not!

But also we should not ignore the local economic incentives that will arise due to an energy crunch. When gas and liquid fossil fuels become more expensive, local stores of coal become relatively more valuable as an energy source.

hotz• 4 years ago

Preferably.

legitster3• 4 years ago

Well, I think more specifically, it shows how foolhardy it was to cut back on oil and gas development while coal was still actively used.

In the last 10 years, the US went so hard on oil and gas exploitation that coal is basically dead just from market forces. And the irony is that by burning more natural gas the US is now doing better on climate than most of Europe.

pencilguin9• 4 years ago

What is quite obvious is that there is a crisis brought on by a war. Period.

Making policy based on a momentary crisis would be much dumber than anybody in Europe is. As the momentary crisis abates, emergency measures will be dropped.

People who have coal will not burn it if it costs more than building out renewables, except where corruption locks in continued dependence on coal.

perrygeo5• 4 years ago

Just to be totally clear on this, you're claiming that "People who have coal will not burn it if costs more than building out renewables"

You do realize that you're commenting on an article showing that people are literally, today, as we speak, doing exactly the opposite. i.e. tearing down decade-long investments in renewables to get at coal.

uri4• 4 years ago

And what are Germans supposed to do? Freeze to death? If wind farm would provide enough energy, this would not be necessary!

tomlockwood• 4 years ago

Anyone who's been to Germany will immediately know that building anything in Germany may require dismantling a wind farm - they're everywhere.

Xylakant• 4 years ago

As someone living in germany, that’s just wrong.

growt2• 4 years ago

Only in the north. In the south, Bavaria, you need to keep so much space between a wind farm and the nearest house that it’s impossible to build one (and that’s not really an exaggeration).

growt2• 4 years ago

They 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

legitster3• 4 years ago

I 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.

pencilguin9• 4 years ago

There is nothing wrong with overbuilding renewables capacity. Everything it produces can be used, somewhere.

legitster3• 4 years ago

I 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.

SevenNation• 4 years ago

TFA 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-be...

This is some next-level desperation for lignite.

simonblack• 4 years ago

It's usually a bit easier to shift a Wind Mill than to shift a coal mine.

Germany Is Dismantling a Wind Farm to Make Way for a Coal Mine

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