Goodbye daisies! Habeck’s solar plans are already making green colleagues angry

Life could actually be so beautiful for the Greens: the last nuclear power plants in Germany have just been shut down. The party has thus achieved one of its core goals, a decades-long struggle has been won. In addition, the party occupies three federal ministries with which one can now really shape climate protection: that for agriculture with Cem Özdemir, that for the environment with Steffi Lemke and of course that for economy and climate with Robert Habeck.

As I said, it could hardly be better – if the design wasn’t so complicated.

Specifically, the expansion of renewable energies is causing internal disputes that don’t happen every day. Robert Habeck needs a sense of achievement when building new photovoltaic systems, his goals are high. Installations of nine gigawatts per year are currently being added in Germany, and from 2026 it should be 22 gigawatts. This is a very important cornerstone for the energy transition. Only eleven percent of German electricity still comes from solar power, by 2030 it must be twice as much.

Habeck’s solar plans are highly problematic for two of his Green Minister colleagues

In order to achieve this, Habeck needs one thing above all: space. He wants to have every second new photovoltaic system built on a so-called open space. But these are exactly the fields and meadows that are very important to Minister of Agriculture Özdemir and environmentalist Lemke. Your assessment of the ideas from Habeck: highly problematic.

Everyone is now eagerly awaiting his detailed plans for everything to do with solar energy, which he intends to present in May. At the latest when it becomes law, the other ministries must agree. In view of the dispute, this should be an exciting process given the internal dispute.

The Ministry of Agriculture says: Feel free to build solar systems, but please only on “already sealed areas and moors that have been wet again”. The Federal Environment Minister justified the skepticism with the “already high competition for space”. That means: Habeck’s expansion is too much at the expense of agriculture. And there is something to it, because the image of sheep grazing comfortably in the shade under PV systems only corresponds to a limited extent to reality.

Goodbye daisies, welcome to the energy transition: “It’s not acceptable like this”

The struggle for land leads to competition between farmers and energy producers. And the latter usually have more money. Also because there is much more to be earned with solar systems on the same area than with agriculture. The difference is 500 euros per hectare to several thousand euros. The run on farmland is already driving the price – it has risen by around 60 percent in the last ten years.

In addition, the officials from the environment and agriculture ministries refer to wind power, the expansion of which, as is well known, repeatedly fails due to resistance from citizens and municipalities. Habeck’s plans
of photovoltaics, it is feared, these concerns could be massively increased if meadows and fields are paved over. And in the end even slow down the expansion. After all, not everyone thinks solar systems are beautiful.

The German Farmers’ Association has calculated that in Germany 55 hectares are built over with buildings or roads every day – that’s 74 conventional soccer fields. Habeck plans with 22 more hectares, which would also disappear for solar systems. Goodbye daisies, welcome energy transition. And where should the organic wheat be grown?

“That’s not acceptable,” says Udo Hemmerling, Vice Secretary General of the Farmers’ Association. “We are very concerned that the unrestrained expansion of photovoltaics will overbuild high-yield arable and grassland areas.”

Could Habeck also achieve its expansion goals without using open space?

The Federal Ministry of Economics replies: “The proportion of ground-mounted PV systems in agricultural land will remain extremely low.” Another argument is that 14 percent of agricultural land is currently used for energy crops such as rapeseed. If there were more green electricity, you would need it So the motto is: More electric cars, less rapeseed for E10 fuel.

Sounds logical. The counter-argument: In an emergency, you can quickly grow food on areas for electric car rapeseed. Once there are PV systems, that’s no longer possible.

The crucial question is: Could Habeck also achieve its expansion goals without using such open spaces? Theoretically yes, says the Federal Environment Agency: There is enough potential for PV systems on roofs and facades. All right, but are these areas practically available? And above all: until when?

The Federal Environment Agency admits: “It would take forever.” Always too slow for Habeck. Because there is a lack of connections to the power grid, and the construction of solar systems on roofs and facades is significantly more expensive than on open spaces. The costs are a very relevant factor for the Ministry of Economy. The other is speed: Investors usually get permits for open spaces much faster, especially if they are located next to freeways and railway tracks.

Three green ministries are struggling to reach a compromise – which is quite tricky

It is said that the three green ministries are already struggling to find a compromise. It will probably result in a cap for the loss of agricultural land.

The conservationists from the BUND demand, for example, that “a maximum of one third” of the new PV systems should be installed in open spaces. So far, however, the Federal Ministry of Economics has not relented. An addition or variant would be to revise the so-called real estate transaction law in such a way that it works better than the current version. Among other things, it grants farmers a right of first refusal against investors.

However, the law is a matter for the state. And the Greens don’t rule everywhere. Even more controversy seems programmed.

The contribution “Habeck’s solar plans make even green colleagues angry” comes from WirtschaftsKurier.