Leutkirch – On Sunday (October 8th) Bavaria will elect a new state parliament. Some people who don’t live in the Free State like to laugh at what’s happening in our neighboring state. It is often said that Bavaria is blocking the energy transition. But as generally stated, this is not true. At least that is the impression of “dieScreenzeitung” editorial member Julian Aicher from Rotis. Not only does he live right on Baden-Württemberg’s border with Bavaria, but he has been working with energy activists from the Free State for over 20 years. Here is Aicher’s energy comparison:
A sunny autumn day in Ottmannshofen. Best towards late afternoon/evening, when the sun shines “flatly” from west to east. With foresight all around. Up to the Alpine peaks. Soon visible in the field of vision: wind power plants. However, not a single one in the west, i.e. in Baden-Württemberg. In the east, however, well over 20. From Wildpoldsried to Ollarzried. Clearly: Bayern are ahead.
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Twice as much electricity from renewable energy sources in Bavaria as in Baden-Württemberg
Already in 2018, 70 wind towers in the Bavarian administrative region of Swabia supplied around 300,000 private individuals with electricity. In the Baden-Wurttemberg district of Ravensburg, on the other hand, there are only two wind power plants in operation today – near Bad-Wurzach-Unterschwarzach. So when Cordula Tutt from “Wirtschaftswoche” in 2022 accused Bavarian Prime Minister Markus Söder of being far behind when it comes to wind power, the CSU man confirmed: “When it comes to wind power, I think we are in 8th place.” In comparison Federal states. But then Söder summarized Bavaria: “We have twice as much renewable energy – i.e. electricity – produced as Baden-Württemberg, even though we only have two million more inhabitants.”
The local biogas comparison
Keyword biogas. A total of 14 biogas plants were working on Leutkircher Markung in 2020. And in the neighboring Bavarian town of Legau only 4. But: Legau only has a total area of 36.38 square kilometers, while Leutkirch has 174.97 square kilometers. Leutkirch is therefore almost five times larger than Legau. The population ratio is similar: Leutkirch is almost seven times more than Legau. Compared to the four biogas plants in Legau, there should be 20 such companies in Leutkirch rather than the actual 14.
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So also when it comes to renewable “bioenergy”: Bavaria is at the forefront. At least near Leutkirchs. Nice to see approximately to the left of the Legau-Maria-Steinbach road. So anyone who believes that where “the Greens” are the Prime Minister, renewable energy is being used more than in Bavaria by the CSU and Free Voters simply has to realize: That’s not true. At least in southern Germany, where someone with a green party ticket has ruled in Baden-Württemberg since 2011: Winfried Kretschmann.
It is occasionally heard among his party members that electricity from renewable energy sources is flowing more heavily in the neighboring country simply because Bavaria, with its Alpine heights, has more hydropower. But this comparison is also flawed. Because powerful water also rushes in Baden-Württemberg. For example in the Black Forest. Kretschmann’s state administration even had hydroelectric power plants destroyed here. The end in Überlingen was similar. And in Rottweil, the local municipal utility’s Neckar hydroelectric power plant is due to be demolished.
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Bavaria is expanding hydropower
An active water engine has also been replaced in Leutkirch over the last 25 years: the Emerlander mill. Since then, the turbine in Schmidsfelden has also been officially shut down. The generator right next door could still supply more electrical kilowatt hours than the old glassmaking village uses. Other examples from the Bavarian Allgäu. While around 7% of the electricity consumed in Oberstdorf came from hydropower around 1990, today it is around 50%. Seven times more. Occasionally, old water engines in Bavaria are strengthened through modernization. For example in the Iller in Kempten. At the Technical University (TU) of Munich, a particularly fish-friendly type of hydroelectric power plant has been created over the last ten years: the “shaft power plant”.
Renewable energies are working in Bavaria. Munich’s Economics Minister Hubert Aiwanger (Free Voters) gives his recipe for success: “Energy policy is such that we must be able to use all the energy sources that we currently have (…) without ideology.” For example in the Bavarian capital itself. This is what the Munich municipal utilities emphasize (SWM) again and again: 90% of all electrical kilowatt hours consumed in the Isar metropolis came from renewable energy sources by the end of 2022. SWM target for 2025: 100%. 21 of Bavaria’s 96 districts and independent cities showed that this claim does not have to be unrealistic. In the 21 districts, more electricity was generated from renewable power sources than was consumed in the respective district. Around a dozen other districts are at 75 to 100%. Over 50% of the electricity generated in the Free State in 2020 came from renewables. In Baden-Württemberg it was around 35% in 2021. So overall there: Bayern in the lead.
Circle comparison
This also applies to the conditions in the Leutkirch area between Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg. The neighboring district of Unterallgäu reported around 75.6% of its electricity supply from renewable energy sources in 2022. The Ravensburg district was just over 50% in 2022. Figures from Netze BW for the Ravensburg district show how strong increases seem possible here: 60% of its area outside Ravensburg and Weingarten will already be electrified using renewable sources in the summer of 2023. In Weingarten and Ravensburg, where the Schussental Technical Works (TWS) provides electrical voltage, 100% is already flowing. This is what the TWS said in September 2023. With a lot of renewable momentum, the Ravensburg district can emulate its neighboring district of Unterallgäu. Until the Ravensburg district reaches 75.6% of the Lower Allgäu population, Bavaria is ahead.
It should therefore be noted that in Bavaria, where the CSU and Free Voters have previously governed, a noticeably larger proportion of electricity comes from renewable energies than in Baden-Württemberg. Bavaria is simply more renewable than the Kretschmann “green” German southwest.
So it’s worth it: a look at Bavaria. Not just from Ottmannshofen.
2023-10-07 13:01:25
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