On Thursday, Peter Altmaier, is negotiating about the future of wind power. With the opponents he used to earlier in-depth exchanges.

No fear of contact with wind power opponents: Peter Altmaier, head of the Ministry of economy photo: Karsten Thielker

BERLIN taz | With your attempt, the U.S. car manufacturer Tesla in the state of Brandenburg to thwart, entered the activists from Bayern, uncharted territory and conceded a clip around the ears: A court rejected in February, the emergency appeal of the Association for the preservation of the landscape and protection of species in Bavaria (VLAB), the should stop the "robbery-like started grubbing-up" of the allegedly for the protection of species of important forest area.

Until then, the club from the upper Palatinate had fought primarily against the "excesses of the energy transition", in particular against wind farms – and was clearly more successful. The construction of new wind turbines is also broke due to lawsuits from wind power opponents, this Thursday the Federal government and the countries are looking for solutions to bring it back into gear.

However, while Federal economy Minister Peter Altmaier (CDU) on the subject of Tesla on the opposite side of the energiewende opponents stand, he used to you, in terms of wind power so far, close relations, the rich to Private: In July of 2017 received Altmaier, the then Federal Minister for special tasks and head of the Federal Chancellery, a half-dozen of the rotor opponents without any official fanfare. The Meeting a few weeks before the election, rose in Altmaiers garden in Rehlingen-Siersburg.

With a great service and in a pleasant atmosphere, was received by the Minister, the wind force opponent

"When the weather is nice, good hospitality and a pleasant atmosphere, Peter Altmaier took during his vacation a good 2 1/2 hours time to answer our questions and his view of climate change and the further development of the energy transition to explain," it says under the image of the cozy shows together. To find it on the website of against the wind, Saarland (GWS), a merger of several Anti-wind power initiatives.

the negotiations of The black-red coalition over a minimum distance of 1000 metres between wind turbines and residential homes went on Wednesday evening without reaching an agreement. Talks led to no result, as the German press Agency learned from coalition circles, the SPD left the negotiating table. (Reuters)

In the case of Altmaiers tea party with Edgar, a young man from the BI Prim arc, which had brought in a short time before the wind Park hüttersdorf of the energy group EnBW to the case was. Of the state of Baden-Württemberg and the Swabian counties, belonging to the catering had to bury his plans for the eight rotors in the district of Saarlouis, after two communities had withdrawn their consent to the construction. Preceded by heated debates on site, fanned the flames were gone by the young man BI.

on the Right Hand of Altmaier, Ulrich Leyhe, President of the County Association of Saarlouis Dillingen of the Nature protection League (Nabu) sat. "Climate hysteria is not a misnomer – it has become a reality", belittles Leyhe on the Facebook page of the Nabu to global warming. On his private Facebook Account of the official conspiracy theoretical post about an old Video from the Ex-ZDF-meteorologist Wolfgang Thüne, denies climate change. Thüne performed with his theses at the AfD and the climate deniers club EIKE.

to talk about Still, Leyhe had the chutzpah in April 2019, for a Fridays-for-Future-Demo in Saarlouis. The students, of course, he concealed his Beliefs. After the audience with Altmaier guests from the province were satisfied. At the end of "this very constructive conversation," agreed to continue "the discussion after the Bundestag election".

The Meeting took place on 7. July 2018 took place, this time in the Altmaiers constituency office in Saarlouis. About one and a half hours, he took the time to answer "questions about energy policy".

Detlef Ahlborn was this time represented the "Federal initiative reason of strength", which is understood to Unite as an umbrella organisation of around 1,000 Anti-wind power. The "reason power"-the Deputy SideShow for years, with Black-out scenarios by the Republic, in order to make sentiment against the energy transition. The Meeting with Altmaier, Ahlborn had created a table template "legal framework for the construction of wind turbines". It was about opening clauses for municipalities to be able to wind Park projects block.

Also to limit the costs risk for a plaintiff citizens Ahlborn wanted to win the Minister. To Predict Altmaier had, apparently, does not move. "Unfortunately, not enough time was after the debated point turnaround in energy policy available to the constituency-members of the theme legal framework and the issue of infrasound to discuss," the GWS report.

On 5. September 2019 met the activists again on Altmaier. This time in Berlin's Federal Ministry of Economics (BMWi), the acceptance of peak wind power. At the summit meeting with 70 participants was scheduled after the expansion of the rotors was previously broken into. As the main reasons for the lack of land, long approval procedures and lawsuits from wind power opponents apply. "The use of wind energy is location increasingly on criticism" as formulated by the Minister of the "cordial invitation". Therefore, he wanted to lead "an open conversation" with the wind energy industry, associations, representatives of the countries and the citizens ' initiatives on the ground. At the table seven Anti-initiatives from different Federal States, which belong all of the "reason of strength" sat.

Whole two hours had scheduled Altmaier for the summit, which nothing less than the Survival of a German Spearhead should go, who had lost in two years, around 40,000 jobs. Much little time, how participants will report in retrospect. "It all came together, not a word to the wind power opponents, who were allowed to explain their positions wide," says Wolfram Axthelm, managing Director of the German wind energy Association. That "reason power" was invited to the summit, astonished, Franz untersteller, until today. "Finally, it should go to the Expansion of wind power, not to prevent it," says the baden-württemberg Minister of the environment (Green), representing the southerners.

In a Keynote to the summit GWS-speaker Jacob Carter had emphasized that "acceptance in the first place requires more distance". A claim, which caught the hosts, apparently. 20. September 2019 Altmaiers Ministry wrote a minimum distance of 1,000 metres from wind turbines to settlements to the climate protection program. On 9. October turned up the passage in the "action plan for the creation of acceptance and legal certainty for wind energy on Land" of the Ministry of economy. A default, the brakes, according to Federal environment Agency the installation of new rotors as well as "Repowering" of existing plants, completely and, thus, the German climate protection goals unattainable would have made.

But the reason the force was not enough "to" still. The Minister accused according to the daily mirror, a "knee" in front of the wind power Lobby. Altmaier took the Levy apparently non-personally: at the end of October, the Ministry received again a "reason power"Delegation in Berlin. Is represented by the Anti-wind power Association, is there anyway to permanently: 1. Chairman Nikolai Ziegler works as a consultant for digitisation. As the taz revealed, he represented, also, at times the personal representatives, the parliamentary state Secretary Thomas Bareiß, for the area of energy policy.

Also in the "Association for the preservation of the landscape and species protection in Bavaria", the Association against the Tesla location in Grünheide was going on, Ziegler is according to research by the RBB is a member; of the Union in the "reason power", in turn, is one of the institutional members of the Bavarian club. Conversely, the VLAB is a member of the Federal initiative.

The recent success of the VLAB celebrated by the way, just before the Tesla-clip around the ears: at the end of January, the energy supplier EnBW had to give up a Repowering project at Pfettrach in the district of Landshut, after the VLAB was taken against it. The group wanted to replace two older rotors with a larger 3.4 MW plant. Which would have generated 40 percent more power, quieter working, and birds are less at risk. At the request of the VLAB, a court quashed a previous approval from the year 2014.

Altmaier defended his contacts in the German newspaper Handelsblatt with the words, there is a need for "a consensus with the wind power opponents, if the Expansion of wind farms to come back in gear". But you must invite real people to the tea party, climate change denial and energy turnaround fight? The Ministry says only: "Please understand that we do not speak to the press events, as usual."

Other clearer. "The Minister under plate closes the discussion with the wind power opponents," says the Stuttgart-based Ministry for the environment on demand. "In the private environment of the Ministers has hosted never."