Wind energy

The City of Aachen has been promoting the use of wind energy within the city limits for many years and wants to ensure a crisis-proof, sustainable and (economically) viable energy supply through the use of renewable energies. The City Council of Aachen paved the way for this with the resolution of the climate emergency in July 2019 and the resolution of the Integrated Climate Protection Concept (IKSK) in August 2020.

In this context, the City of Aachen primarily wants to promote the expansion of wind energy in a transparent and committed manner. To this end, a total of 19 so-called wind energy areas are to be shown in the land use plan (FNP). In the opinion of the administration, the areas shown are particularly suitable for the construction of wind turbines in a way that is compatible with the city and the landscape. For this reason, wind turbines are to be located primarily within these areas in future.

An amendment to the Aachen*2030 land use plan is required for the designation of wind energy areas. The planning committee addressed the issue at its meeting in February 2023 and instructed the administration to initiate the procedure for amending the land use plan and to carry out early public participation.

Further information on the current plans: www.aachen.de/windkraft

In 2016ff.

In the north of Aachen:

Two more wind turbines approved

The City of Aachen has approved two further new wind turbines on the Aachen-Nord wind concentration area in the vicinity of Laurensberger Straße and Alter Heerler Weg. These two turbines are to be erected on land in the Laurensberg district. The wind turbines in question are numbers 15 and 16 to the south-east of the Avantis industrial estate, roughly at the level of the border crossing between Germany and the Netherlands.

Map of the AC-North wind farm

The two turbines have a rated output of 2,500 kilowatts, a total height of 199 meters and may be operated all day, i.e. from midnight to midnight. The approval notices will be available from June 6 to 20 at various public locations in Aachen and in the Dutch municipalities of Kerkrade, Heerlen and Simpelveld.

A public announcement with detailed information on the two new wind turbines will be published on Saturday, June 4, in the two Aachen daily newspapers, in the Dutch daily newspapers Limburgs Dagblad and Dagblad De Limburger as well as on the website of the City of Aachen.

Back in May 2016, the city of Aachen approved two new wind turbines on the Aachen-Nord wind concentration area, a little further north, on land between the Avantis industrial estate and the Horbach district. They have a rated output of 3,300 kilowatts, a total height of 196 meters and may also be operated all day.

In 2015

Münsterwald:

City approves seven planned wind turbines

- The city approves the seven planned wind turbines.
- The applicant has submitted numerous application documents and expert opinions.
- The notifications will be on public display for two weeks.

At the end of November 2015, the Environment Department of the City of Aachen issued the permits for the construction and operation of seven wind turbines in Münsterwald. The approvals were preceded by a complex and extensive formal administrative procedure, in which many objectors participated in writing and in a public hearing at the Inda-Gymnasium at the end of April this year.

The applicant had prepared extensive expert reports on a wide range of environmental issues. The entire application documents, including the expert reports, were reviewed by a large number of authorities. The authorities examined all objections and suggestions and assessed their significance for the procedure. The applications were decided on this basis and in consideration of the available facts. On the basis of the statutory provisions, this was associated with numerous extensive ancillary provisions.

The approval procedure, which has repeatedly been the focus of public interest, ends with the notification of the decisions to the applicant.

The approval of the wind turbines in Münsterwald will shortly be published in the form of a public announcement in three regional daily newspapers: "Aachener Nachrichten", "Aachener Zeitung" and in the Belgian "Grenzecho".