A scenic region in Germany is coming under environmental threat - from too much wind energy, writes Derek Scally
When Prof Hans-Joachim Mengel started fighting the wind turbines in the scenic Uckermark, north of Berlin, locals derided him as the Don Quixote of Germany. Now the Berlin academic and Uckermark native has become a local hero. The deluded knight from La Mancha fought windmills he mistook for giants but Mengel is fighting 150m tall windmills themselves, which he says are "desecrating" the landscape.
"This is the greatest disaster for the area since the 30 Years' War," said Mengel, a political scientist at Berlin's Free University and founder of the "Save the Uckermark" campaign.
Germany is the world leader in wind energy, producing more than Denmark, Spain and the U.S. put together. In excess of 15,000 turbines have sprouted on the German landscape in the last 15 years - half of those in the last five years - and the number will double again by the end of the decade.
The phenomenon of white turbines sprouting up across the countryside has added a new word to the German language: "verspargelung", best translated as "asparagus-ising" the landscape.
With rolling valleys and more than 400 lakes, the Uckermark markets itself to tourists as the "Tuscany of the north, at one with nature". But now it is home to 223 turbines - the highest turbine concentration in Europe - with another 280 on the way. Locals complain that the turbines cause a "swishing" sound day and night; the blades often reflect the sun and cast long shadows.
Locals once welcomed the energy companies who pursued an aggressive marketing campaign in the area. They invested in infrastructure and promised jobs in an area where one in five is out of work. Now many of the locals regret their decision. As one said on local radio: "Nine property owners are earning from the turbines and 400 people have to suffer."
"No phase of industrialisation has caused a more brutal destruction of the landscape since when the turbines started peppering the horizon," wrote Botho Strauß, one of Germany's best-known dramatists and Uckermark resident in a recent, angry essay.
The level of anger was clear in last year's local elections in the state of Brandenburg, where the Uckermark is located. Mengel ran a single-issue anti-turbine campaign and won 19 per cent of the vote.
Complaints that wind energy turbines destroy the environment are ironic considering that renewable energy is the pet project of Jürgen Trittin, the Green Party environment minister.
"This is part of our commitment as a government, to make Germany the world leader in alternative energy and in taking action against global warming," said Trittin recently. "We are willing to do what is necessary. This has a political cost." His ministry pushed through a new "eco-tax" on fossil fuels, and Trittin admits he is probably "one of the least popular politicians in the country".
He is also unpopular with at least one cabinet colleague, the economics minister, Wolfgang Clement. Clement, from the industrial Ruhr heartland, is close to the coal lobby and is unapologetically sceptical when it comes to renewable energy.
He warned recently that the extra costs involved in producing renewable energy would rise from €1.4 billion to €5.4 billion in 10 years' time. A government-commissioned study suggests that another €5 billion in subsidies will be required in 2015 to make renewable energy affordable.
The environment ministry hit back, saying that renewable energy would add just an extra euro to household electricity bills. Or, as Tritting likes to put it, "the cost of an ice-cream cone." German energy companies have been compelled by law to buy wind energy since 1991, though it was the Renewable Energy Act of 2000, updated last year, that upped the stakes.
Since then, the price of wind energy has been fixed higher than the going rate, guaranteeing profits for investors in even unprofitable facilities. Turbine manufacturers employ over 50,000 people in Germany. Some 14.6 gigawatts of electricity were generated by wind power in 2003, with the total likely to have risen last year. The share of renewable energy sources in total German electricity consumption jumped to over 10 per cent for the first time last year, a figure the government wants to double by 2020.
The importance of wind energy will increase even further by then, when the majority of Germany's nuclear energy power plants will have closed, as foreseen by an industry agreement with the government.
"Every kilowatt of electricity generated from wind energy spares environmental pollutants, saves resources and reduces our export dependency," says a spokesman for the environment ministry.
The ministry says that wind and other renewable energy have seen a reduction of around 60 million tonnes of CO2 emissions annually in Germany. But another report from the economics ministry pointed out that this only frees up the CO2 credits of German companies, which can be sold abroad, meaning there is no overall reduction in carbon dioxide emissions.
Mengel says the government has miscalculated on wind energy and has yet to accept the long-term damage to the Uckermark's tourist industry. "The destruction of the landscape needs to be entered in on the cost side of any cost-benefit analysis of wind power," he says. "The landscape here in the Uckermark is an economic asset and when that is destroyed, the region's economy will also be destroyed."
Despite the growing grassroots support, Mengel says the atmosphere in the Uckermark is becoming poisonous. His supporters are publicly accused of being stooges of the coal industry, while Mengel now receives a steady stream of threatening letters.
"We will yank out your tiny, sharp teeth one by one," wrote one who called themselves an "advocate of renewable energy". Industry observers say that criticisms of residents are valid and should be taken into account in future turbine designs.
"Wind energy always enjoys a high acceptance in Germany, but when it becomes visible in the area through turbines you see falling acceptance. It's not a new phenomenon," says Dr Jochen Diekmann, energy expert at the German Institute for Economic Research. "But the criticisms don't mean it's not sensible to build wind energy facilities. I mean, what alternative do we have?" German industry players are following the trend in Ireland for huge offshore wind farms, with at least 30 applications lodged in recent months.
Earlier this month, German turbine manufacturer REpower unveiled the world's largest wind turbine. The 5M turbine stands 120 metres tall with a blade diameter of 61 metres and can generate 5 megawatts of electricity, enough energy for 5,000 households. The company hopes to be granted EU permission to erect turbines in a test facility 25 km off the Scottish coast.
Mengel's quixotic campaign has undoubtedly done damage to wind-energy's previously unstained reputation in Germany. Even if wind-energy companies go offshore to erect farms invisible from the coast, Mengel says he wants greater public discussion about the future of wind energy.
"Opposition to wind farms is growing fast, but none of the major political parties are prepared to listen to voters' concerns," he says.
"They are ideologically committed to wind as a source of alternative energy and don't want it questioned."