Over 60% spoke out against wind energy ban
The expansion of renewable energies often meets with resistance. Not so in the municipality of Hitzkirch in Lucerne, which has rejected a general ban on wind energy.
Source: GE Renewable Energy
A wind farm with five turbines is being planned on the Lindenberg in Hitzkirch: four wind turbines in Beinwil im Freiamt in Aargau, one on the Lucerne side (cf. here). In Hitzkirch, the association Pro Lindenberg had launched a municipal initiative that would ban the use of wind energy on the Lucerne side of the Lindenberg. Just under 60% of the population followed the municipal council and voted against a wind energy ban in the municipality at the ballot box on Sunday, 29.11.20.
General ban rejected
The local council is in favor of a factual examination of a wind farm as soon as concrete project documents including an environmental impact report are available. He argued that only then it can be answered whether the Lindenberg is suitable for wind energy or not. The community initiative demanded a general ban on the use of wind energy. In doing so, it wanted to prevent a well-founded and objective decision from being made on the part of the Lindenberg wind farm that affects the community of Hitzkirch.
Environmental impact assessment still pending
The voters of the Beinwil and Hitzkirch communities will decide whether or not a wind farm can be built on the Lindenberg. In keeping with good Swiss tradition, they will only do so once all the advantages and disadvantages have been put on the table as part of the necessary zoning plan amendment. This will probably be in 2022. Then, among other things, a detailed environmental impact assessment will be available to put the project through its paces. A "no" vote at the ballot box in Hitzkirch would not only have been a premature "no" to the use of renewable energies in the region, but also unworthy of the local initiators of the project, who have been planning with commitment and seriousness since 2007.
Source: Suisse Eole
