According to a dpa report carried by Zeit Online, a dispute over wind power expansion and wildlife protection in the western German state of North Rhine-Westphalia has prompted the state’s renewable energy association LEE to organize a demonstration against Germany’s Nature and Biodiversity Conservation Union (NABU). According to renewable energy news platform Internationales Wirtschaftsforum Regenerative Energien (IWR), the LEE, whose members include wind power sector companies, claims that some nature and environmental protection organizations are preventing the construction of renewable energy projects, and accuses the NABU of being particularly active in North Rhine-Westphalia.
The claims are denied by the NABU. “The NABU is not opposed to wind energy,” claimed Heide Naderer, state chair. “We want to see renewable energy sources expanded even further.” However, we want the issue of species conservation to be taken into account.” Naderer voiced his disappointment that the species conservation and climate crises are being pitted against one another.
According to the LEE, which is organising a protest against the NGO near its Düsseldorf headquarters on Wednesday, more than 100 wind turbine projects with a total capacity of more than 500 megawatts have been halted in North Rhine-Westphalia in recent years. The NABU has also criticized the German government’s intentions to extend offshore wind power development in the Baltic and North Seas.