Climate protection wins: OVG allows solar systems on monuments in NRW

Climate protection wins: OVG allows solar systems on monuments in NRW

Münster, Deutschland - North Rhine-Westphalia Climate protection on monument protection: OVG makes pioneering decision!

A groundbreaking judgment of the Higher Administrative Court of North Rhine-Westphalia causes a stir! In a pioneering decision, the court ruled that the protection of the climate and the expansion of renewable energies have priority from monument protection. This means that owners of listed buildings in Düsseldorf and Siegen have the right to install solar systems on their roofs. A clear victory for climate protection that puts the interests of monument protection in the shade!

important judgments for climate protection

The judgment, which was announced on Wednesday, affects two significant cases. In the first case, a homeowner from Düsseldorf successfully sued an urban decision that refused to install a solar system. In the second case, a decision by the Arnsberg Administrative Court in relation to a listed building in Siegen was lifted. Here the conservationists initially won, but the OVG made it clear: the public interest in climate protection outweighs!

The presiding judge Gudrun Dahme said that according to a regulation in the Renewable Energy Sources Act, renewable energies must have priority when weighing up the protective goods until the generation of electricity is almost more green-neutral. This has a direct impact on the North Rhine-Westphalian monument protection law. Only in special exceptional cases can the monument protection prevent the construction of solar systems. But in the current cases the court saw no special circumstances.

In the case of the Golzheim settlement in Düsseldorf, it was found that the solar system does not affect the outer appearance of the monument. The adapted color of the solar panels and the roof surface do not interfere with the silhouette of the settlement. Even in the case of the former school in Siegen, the OVG decided that the solar system did not affect the listed properties of the building. A clear victory for climate protection and a strong signal for the future of renewable energies!