Bestwig municipality not participating in wind power company EEH - for the time being

The municipality of Bestwig will not participate in the planned company Erneuerbare Energien Hochsauerlandkreis GmbH (EEH) for the time being. With the votes of the CDU, the Bestwig municipal council has now decided to revoke the earlier decision in principle to participate.

CDU parliamentary group leader Alexander Brockhoff had tabled a motion to this effect. Background: As a municipal company, EEH is to plan, finance and implement renewable energy projects using wind and solar energy plants - with shares held equally by HSK and the participating municipalities. In a second step, the company RWE will then offer the EEH a 49 per cent stake in projects to be implemented - specifically in a project company that currently has the working title "Wind und Sonne Hochsauerlandkreis GmbH & Co. KG (WISO)". The aim of the activities: In addition to the expansion of renewable energies, the partners are to benefit financially from the income generated by the projects.

However, Alexander Brockhoff argued that the initial situation had "changed considerably" compared to last year. Even with the municipality of Bestwig, only four municipalities are still involved - "and with fewer partners, the risk increases for each municipality". In addition, the concept is primarily based on areas in the Arnsberg Forest, which are not designated as priority areas for wind power in the latest regional plan. However, there is consensus among all parliamentary groups in the municipal council that no so-called "positive planning" - i.e. wind power areas beyond the regional plan areas - is currently wanted, according to Alexander Brockhoff: "In addition, the economic assumptions are also based on immediate implementation - the economic risk could then increase in the event of later realisation.

For the SPD, parliamentary group leader Paul Theo Sommer emphasised that the EEH was not fundamentally "about wind power in our community", "but about the question of whether we want to participate in wind power". The town of Warstein is planning wind power in Arnsberg Forest, and this will probably also be the case for the town of Meschede: "Do we want to watch how money is made with wind power - or do we want to be part of it?" Positive planning is not mandatory - but there is a "responsibility to put the municipality's finances on a secure footing". Participation in the EEH is therefore not a "yes to wind power", but a "yes to income from wind power".

Katja Seidel and Judith Clancy also agreed with these statements on behalf of the Greens: The EEH was "a great opportunity" - and it was by no means a foregone conclusion that positive planning would not be introduced in a few years' time.

Alexander Brockhoff did not want to rule this out either: "That's why we say 'at the present time'." However, the presentations by the designated EEH management made it clear that the current focus is exclusively on areas in the Arnsberg Forest - and that no wind power is currently wanted outside of the regional plan areas. Alexander Brockhoff: "If other projects emerge in the EEH, we can think again."

With a majority of CDU votes in the municipal council, the committee ultimately decided that the municipality of Bestwig would not participate in the EEH - for the time being.