SECURING ENERGY SUPPLY AT THE REGIONAL LEVEL -THE CASE OF WIND FARMING IN GERMANY: A COMPARISON OF TWO CASE STUDIES FROM NORTH HESSE AND WEST SAXONY

摘要

Wind power is one way we can reduce our dependency on fossil fuel imports and mitigate climate change. However, wind power can play this important role only if sufficient space for wind farming is made available off-shore as well as on-shore including sites far away from the seashores. Against this background this paper presents a comparative analysis of two hinterland case studies from Germany. Applying GIS and official wind speed data we evaluate the effectiveness of designated wind farming areas in the regions of West Saxony and North Hesse in terms of their expected wind energy yields and potential for repowering. We show that, in this respect, the current spatial allocation for wind power generation in both study regions is not as effective as it could be, but for different reasons. We contrast this finding with an alternative proposal which not only meets the legal requirements for wind power generation but also yields better results in terms of expected energy output. This proposal takes into account the availability of different turbine types and a spatial re-allocation of wind farming areas within the study regions.