One of my companies near Heilbronn would like to build a solar system on a 1,600 square meter peripheral area of the company property. Much more would be possible in terms of area, but the project planner advised against it: large solar systems need external experts and special certificates for approval.
The experts obviously have a lot to do. A large solar system can only go into operation in three years. At earliest.
We are planning a biogas plant in Berlin. The approval process has been going on for three years. In the meantime, the laws on immission control have changed, and the project is at risk.
Something similar happened to us at a plant in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania for the production of energy and fertilizer, as well as at plants for recycling.
That’s not going to happen with the energy transition.
Numerous authorities and regulations are slowing down the rapid expansion of renewables
Many wind farm projects have also been dying of approval for years. According to the German Wind Energy Association, it takes an average of four to five years for a wind energy project to be planned and approved.
The mass of laws, ordinances, decrees and authorities for a building permit is now excessive – not only for wind energy: Immission Control Act, Building Code, road, air traffic and nature conservation law. Expert opinions upon expert opinions must be submitted – on noise levels, shadows cast, visibility, also effects on the landscape and, of course, on the protection of species and birds.
In addition to federal law, the requirements of the federal states also apply to the distances to residential areas, traffic routes or bodies of water. They then put an end to many wind farm projects with height restrictions or monument protection.
How biogas, wind and solar energy will ever secure Germany’s energy supply remains more than questionable.
We cannot save CO2 if the systems are slowed down by the approval authorities. Robert Habeck’s commitment to the planned LNG terminals in Wilhelmshaven and Brunsbüttel is just a drop in the ocean.
In 99.9 percent of the procedures in Germany, things get stuck. Here the Federal Minister of Economics cannot rush to help everywhere.
These three projects were prevented instead of approved
In Germany, instead of being approved, it is usually prevented – and with a system. Three examples:
The notorious Y route of Deutsche Bahn: Between Hamburg, Bremen and Hanover it should be much faster with passenger and freight traffic. After all, environmentally and climate-friendly rail has priority over the car.
But since 2003 there has been back and forth planning for the Y route. The drafts are regularly ground up and pulverized between federal, state, counties, conservationists and local residents.
The new construction of our power grid: Planned by the German Energy Agency and the energy suppliers since 2004, the power grid has been lagging and stumbling behind for 18 years now. 7,500 kilometers of large power lines were planned, not even a tenth of them have been built.
The industry is now demanding 15,000 new route kilometers. Citizens’ initiatives, farmers, bird conservationists, anxious politicians and bureaucrats will continue to tighten the handbrake.
Digital infrastructure: In principle, the state authorities only approve fast fiber optic lines at a snail’s pace. The districts need at least three years to carry out the required market research, planning and EU-wide tender for the state-funded fiber optic construction in the country.
In addition, there is usually a construction period of three years. During that time, Elon Musk’s company, SpaceX, had already launched 2,500 Starlink satellites into orbit to provide high-speed internet to the entire globe.
16 state building regulations are driving many entrepreneurs to the brink of madness
But Elon Musk has already clashed with the German bureaucracy. He simply built the Tesla factory without planning permission, starting in December 2019, based on preliminary permits. If he hadn’t received the final OK for the Gigafactory, Musk would have had to dismantle his factory and restore the site to its original state.
And: Because Tesla had added a battery factory to an application for approval of the car forge, the building application had to be publicly displayed again, and the approval process was reset to zero. Not only Musk was amazed.
>> Read here: Comment – We regulate the real estate market to death
At least politicians have recognized the problem. “We tied ourselves up with a lot of bureaucracy,” said Federal Finance Minister and FDP leader Christian Lindner at the beginning of the year.
He is right. The BDI has calculated that an approval procedure in industry still required an average of two expert opinions 15 years ago. Today it is five to ten.
Our country can no longer modernize like this. Germany is rusting away.
The biggest bureaucratic annoyance for companies is construction law. According to a joint survey of members by “Young Entrepreneurs” and the “Die Familienunternehmer” association, 61 percent of the 810 companies surveyed rated the bureaucratic effort in this area as “very high”.
No wonder: 16 different state building regulations are driving many entrepreneurs to the brink of madness. Half of the entrepreneurs also see bureaucratic costs and over-regulation as the greatest obstacles to investment. Then there is a shortage of skilled workers (45 percent) and an incalculable financial and economic policy (32 percent).
Some of the shackles of bureaucracy could be broken with these measures
A remedy is urgently needed. Here are a few suggestions to speed up the tiresome approval process:
- The administration should appoint competent procedural leaders who make appropriate decisions instead of setting up unattainable maximum demands.
- The person in charge of the proceedings must be authorized to give instructions to subordinate specialist authorities so that his commitments are binding.
- The federal government should set up a competence center that clarifies specialist questions for local authorities in a binding and nationwide manner.
- The authorities need better human and digital equipment.
- Binding deadlines should apply to approval procedures.
- The approval authorities should make a binding declaration that all submitted documents are complete in order to avoid repeated additional requests from other departments.
The proposals could help loosen some of the shackles of German bureaucracy. Other problems can certainly be solved with reforms of federalism, civil service law or digital administration.
The author: Eric Schweitzer is the owner and CEO of the environmental service provider Alba Group and was President of the Association of German Chambers of Industry and Commerce (DIHK) from 2013 to 2021.
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