Germany’s ruling coalition wants to make it mandatory to create space for wind mills and solar panels alongside any newly-built sections of the country’s famed autobahn.
(Bloomberg) — Germany’s ruling coalition wants to make it mandatory to create space for wind mills and solar panels alongside any newly-built sections of the country’s famed autobahn.
“Not a single kilometer of highway should be planned without exhausting the possibilities for generating renewable energy,” the three-party alliance said in a late-night agreement that touched on a range of climate protection and infrastructure measures.
The country’s 13,000-kilometer (8,077.8 miles) highway network is the only one in Europe that has no speed limits on large stretches, and has been a perennial thorn for environmentalists. With Germany under pressure to reduce emissions, policymakers are attempting to at least use some of the vast space it occupies for clean-energy generation.
New stretches of highway will include solar and wind plans from the point of construction, and older segments will also be evaluated for power-generation possibilities, the agreement said.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s Social Democrats, the pro-business FDP and the Greens also want to make it easier for municipalities to designate areas for onshore wind.
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