Germany is expanding its renewable energy capacity through wind parks owned by the community, a model that has made the small investor a partner in its transition away from coal and nuclear plants.
Individuals can put in as little as 500 euros, going up to 10,000 euros, and reap a return from the Burgerwindparks in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany’s northernmost State facing the windy North Sea. Last year, the State produced renewable energy equivalent to what it consumed.
“These energy parks are expensive and you get bank credit for half to one third of the cost. The rest is collected from the people,” says Robert Habeck, Minister for Energy, Agriculture and Rural Areas for Schleswig-Holstein, and a well-known face in German politics from the Greens party.
Community wind parks make it impossible for “one very rich person to buy up the entire venture,” Dr. Habeck said in an interview here.
“You draw circles around the park, say, ten circles with one kilometre between each. In the first circle, residents who are neighbours to the wind park have the first option to invest,” he explained.
Once enough money has been collected, investments could stop at the fourth level; if not, they could go on. If not successful, the process begins again at level one, this time open to big investors.
The political project, the Minister said, was to get rid of nuclear and coal power plants, and produce all energy through renewable sources.
Dr. Habeck was in Chennai, leading a 15-member wind energy delegation attending an expo in Mumbai organised by Husum Windmesse of Germany, which aims to build a platform for renewable energy firms in India.
Energy and environment activists here told the Minister that they saw renewable energy projects as driven by big firms and capital investment, “not for the people but for the firms.” Schleswig-Holstein’s community model could be a solution, Dr. Habeck proposed, adding, “this way, they don’t consider wind parks as an occupation by big companies, the hedge funds or the ‘evil’ government.”
The German Minister said it was possible to put in big central coal or nuclear power plants using the police. But if a government was installing 5,000 windmills, it would not be possible to protect them using the police, should people oppose them. Building trust was crucial.
Germany was clear that it would shut down its last nuclear power plant by 2021-22 and was discussing ways to get rid of coal-based power plants. In the next 20 to 30 years all these plants would come down, and no new coal or nuclear units were built. Those older than 40 years had earned their money and were not needed.
The Minister said carbon capture and storage for coal plants was possible, but affected efficiency and raised costs. “It is cheaper to build solar power plants,” he said.
Balancing actMoreover, although Europe, especially northern Europe and the U.S., had a responsibility to curb carbon emissions, the CO2 thus removed should not be produced by China and India.
Acknowledging India’s growth concerns, he said it was commendable that plans for four ultra mega coal power plants, each of four Gigawatts were given up, with a focus on renewables.
Both Germany and India had missing distribution cable grids. In Germany renewable power was produced in the north while the south lacked it. In India most wind mills were in the south, while big consumption centres were in the north.
Dr. Habeck said he was glad India accepted the Paris Agreement. It had forced the European and US governments to do the same.
Also, the tsunami and the 2015 floods were landmark events.
“I think climate change is real. It is coming now and we have to do something about it.” India and other countries had every right to achieve economic growth, to eliminate unemployment and poverty, but they also had an obligation to stop burning fossil fuels and releasing carbon dioxide.
“If all Indians have cars like Germans do, we have a really big climate problem. Every Indian has the right to move from one place to another. But if you are going to do what we have done, and China and Brazil do the same, we can’t stop climate change.”
