With the Renewable Expansion Acceleration Act (EABG), the Federal Government is planning to always provide the expansion of wind power and photovoltaic systems by law. This would mean that, among other things, the protection of the location and landscape in approval processes loses importance. The MFG warns of an energy transition “at all costs” and calls for implementation with measure, in which nature, environmental and animal welfare and regional interests such as the landscape do not get under the wheels.
Specifically, the Federal Government wants to say with the new one Renewable expansion acceleration law (EABG) Fixed that the expansion of wind power and photovoltaic systems is generally considered a “predominant public interest”- namely primarily before all other interests. It is also essential that the previous reason for refusal to impair the location or landscape as well as the landscape character. In the future, the public interest in renewable energy generation would be higher for every weighing up-not only, as provided for by the EU Directive Red III, restricted to special conflict cases with the water frame, bird or flora-fauna habitat guideline. The draft law is currently still being coordinated within the government and is not yet in the official assessment procedure.
The MFG Upper Austria warns of an energy transition “at all costs” and calls for an implementation with a sense of proportion that respects nature and landscape protection. “We are for renewable energy, but not if the image and landscape as well as our nature and the environment are massively damaged. What is planned here opens the door and gate for a ruthless expansion, valuable landscapes, grown cultural areas and the ecological balance,” warns LAbG. Manuel Herbartner, MFG-OÖ Clubobmann.
The background is the EU directive Red III, which prescribes, to give priority to the expansion of renewable energies-but only In conflict cases with the water framework directive, the bird protection guideline and the Flora-Fauna-Habitat guideline. However, Austria plans to priority Extension to all approval conflicts. From the MFG’s point of view, that would be a case of „Gold Plating“i.e. an overfilling of European guidelines that can have far -reaching consequences: For example, the planned expansion of priority for renewable energies in approval rights would severely restrict the possibilities of municipalities and citizens to prevent or change projects through legal ways. Because certain objections- such as the protection of the location or landscape picture- would have no or only very low chances of stopping or changing a project in a process, because the “public interest in the expansion of renewable energies” would have to be assessed by law.
In Upper Austria the topic is also relevant: the Exclusion zones for wind power the state government already determined it by regulation. Possible Acceleration areas -So zones defined by the government, in which approval processes are to be shortened and simplified for certain energy projects-must be shown on the basis of the requirements of the EUReernrebarable Directive (Red III) until February 2026. From the MFG’s point of view, this must not be done without full transparency and broad public debate. “We demand that acceleration areas are only very restrictive and with a significant attention to nature, environmental, animal and health protection,” said Krautgartner.
Another topic is that Expansion of photovoltaics on agricultural areas. Die PV strategy of the state Upper Austria Actually states that the use of already sealed areas has priority. The slightest priority is given to PV open space systems on agricultural soils. Despite this clear priority, there are initiatives for large-scale AGRI PV systems on agricultural areas. MFG warns of the loss of valuable agricultural areas and locates a clear contradiction to the state strategy. “PV on already sealed areas-yes. On agricultural areas-no. The background of such giant projects on fields can only be that large investors should earn golden noses here-who else could afford to build entire PV fields?” Says Krautgartner.
The MFG calls for one Energy transition with measure and goalthat is the environmental and nature conservation, say and the protection of the landscape- and does not allow national overfilling of EU requirements. “We will take a closer look at the EAGG and fight every attempt to undermine landscape and townscape protection as well as environmental and nature conservation,” emphasizes Krautgartner.