At Volt, we are convinced that this requires a responsible and forward-looking approach to open land in urban and rural areas. On this land, various goals such as the protection of green spaces, nature conservation, the development of building land, agriculture and the generation of climate-neutral energy and heat collide, and they therefore need to be reconciled.
The administration made a start on this with the proposal “Münstersche Stadt-Landschaft – Siedlung und Freiraum in der Balance” (“Münster's urban landscape – settlement and open space in balance”), which provides for the development of a comprehensive and pioneering concept. In a presentation on 25 January, the Stadtwerke made it clear that they are urgently planning to use solar thermal energy as the lead technology for a climate-neutral heat supply. At the same time, they pointed out that this technology receives far too little attention in the proposal and is put at a disadvantage in terms of timing compared with ground-mounted PV.
Volt's spokesperson for environmental policy, Tim Pasch, has pushed within the coalition with the SPD and the Greens for a corresponding amendment to be tabled. This amendment makes it possible to launch at least one more solar thermal project this year and stipulates that solar thermal energy is to be given priority in the vicinity of the district heating network.
Because, as Tim Pasch puts it: “On land in the immediate vicinity of the district heating network, building solar thermal plants makes more sense in environmental terms and should therefore be preferred to ground-mounted PV. Ultimately, solar thermal could also be installed further away, but overall it would then be considerably less economical, since ground-mounted PV can just as easily be installed there.”
Going forward, additional innovative factors are important to Volt, explains Tim Pasch: “We would like to see ground-mounted installations combined with other forms of land use, thereby resolving land-use conflicts. Examples include agrivoltaics, keeping livestock on the same land, or building installations along transport infrastructure.”
Together with our coalition partners, we as the Volt council group are tabling the corresponding amendment at today's meeting of the Committee for the Environment, Climate Protection and Construction (Ausschuss für Umwelt, Klimaschutz und Bauwesen).
