Hagen before crucial citizens' decision: solar parks or nature conservation?

Hagen before crucial citizens' decision: solar parks or nature conservation?

The Galloway holder Freya Kuhr plans to build large solar systems in order to meet the requirements of the district veterinary office in relation to shelter for their over 200 Galloway cattle. On February 23, the citizens of Hagen vote on the construction of two solar parks. One of the parks is to be created at Kreisstraße 32, while the second on the paddocks of Freya Kuhr, to a total of around 60 hectares, is planned.

The second system is an Agri-Photovoltaic system (AGRI-PV) that enables agricultural use among solar modules. These special systems have increased solar modules that offer the animals protection and automatically align themselves according to the position of the sun. Freya Kuhr emphasizes that she does not want to build the systems to achieve profits from electricity generation, but to meet the circulation of the veterinary office. For this purpose, she has contacted two Hamburg companies that will plan and operate the AGRI PV systems.

Citizens' initiative and planned coordination

For the construction of the AGRI PV system, a majority of the votes of the voters in Hagen are required, which requires about 60 votes. A citizens' initiative called "Pro Hagen" has spoken out against the solar parks and describes them as "industrial parks". The initiative hopes to overturn the municipal council decision from October 2022, which unanimously decided the installation decisions for the development plans.

Freya Kuhr would like to continue to receive the natural paradise, which has been created by Galloway Free Land Head in the past 40 years. The meadows in their surroundings are habitat for insects and rare birds of prey. When planning the AGRI PV systems, attention is also taken into account the consideration of wild corridors and biotopes. If the citizens' decision is positive, Kuhr hopes that the systems can go into operation in 2027, such as ln-online.de reported.

At the same time, another large solar park is operated by the individual farmer Henning Kruse. According to Agrarheute.com this park is without investors or farmers who have leased, and has costs of around 10 million euros. The solar system is designed in such a way that it optimally covers the electricity requirements of two neighboring shipyards in two circuits. The solar modules are positioned in such a way that they deliver 4 percent less yield than maximum, whereby they are supposed to perform their peak performance between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m.

-transmitted by West-Ost-media