A German non-governmental conservation organisation, Naturschutzbund Deutschland e.V. (NABU), has filed an objection to the building permit for the Gennaker offshore wind farm (OWF) in the coastal waters of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania.
Massive environmental damage can result from the approximately 103 wind turbines ten kilometers north of the Darß, especially for migratory and resting birds, it said.
“Unfortunately, Gennaker reveals the total failure of the regional wind power planning. Despite massive conservation concerns and a lack of grid connection, the wind farm was approved. It would cut off one of the most important bird migration lines in the southern Baltic Sea. With poorly planned plants like this, we risk the social acceptance of wind power, ”said NABU President Jörg-Andreas Krüger.
NABU added that although current studies show that seabirds avoid turbines with a radius of over 10km, the Gennaker project takes into consideration only 2km, which massively underestimates the loss of habitat in two EU bird protection areas.
In 2015, NABU had already rejected the priority area of wind energy defined by the state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania as unsuitable.
The area is in the immediate vicinity of several fauna-flora-habitat (FFH) and bird protection areas, including the National Park Vorpommersche Boddenlandschaft. Rare porpoises live here, and according to the Federal Agency for Nature Conservation, it is also one of the most important concentration points for bird migration in the entire Baltic Sea.
In May 2019, the State Office for Agriculture and Environment Vorpommern approved the construction of the 103 wind turbines there.