The number of wind turbines in the German wind farm near Fehndorf is doubled. In 2026 or 2027, another seventeen extra windmills will be added. Moreover, they get almost once as high (tip height: 262 meters) than the current fifteen turbines (tip height: 134 meters). The planned expansion is approximately 400 meters from the border, near the villages of Emmer-Compascuum and Barger-Compascuum. Local residents respond mixed.
Residents along the Limietweg in Barger-Compascuum will see the mills advance along their lands and back gardens. This is also the case with Carina Peters, who lives with her family. “I didn’t know anything about it,” she responds surprised when she hears the plans. “I have not read or heard anything about it.”
All of a shortcoming from the German government, she thinks. They should also take residents who also take it a few hundred meters from the border. They still wanted to make a terrace with a view of the eastern meadows. But our view will soon be gone. “
De Buren, Gerard and Truus Hurenkamp, also hear the news with surprise. “We moved from Apeldoorn to Barger-Compascuum five years ago because of the freedom and the view.” Gerard already speaks of the current mills as rotten things that pop up everywhere. “I had to get rid of my carrier pigeons, they all flew up against the wicks.”
He thinks it is only a ‘sneaky stuff’ from the German government. Another neighbor, Angela Wubkes, fears value of the house. “We sometimes cycle along the border along the windmills. I find them terrible. Soon we will also be bothered by the drop shadow.”
Monique Capellen knew that it would come from an expansion, but she was not aware of the details. “They should have done that.” Not only Germany, but also Emmen herself, she thinks.
The wind farm near Fehndorf in the Landkreis Emsland was put into use in 2011 with fifteen turbines at the time. The plan area of three hundred hectares was not yet fully used. There would still be room for another sixteen windmills with a tip height of 149 meters initially. The German operator has now applied for a permit for another seventeen turbines that are therefore even higher.
The municipality of Emmen has since submitted an opinion at Emsland. Although the plans meet the distance standards as laid down in the so -called Tractate of Meppen from the 19th century (at least 376 meters to the border) and the Emmer distance requirements for homes, the municipality is concerned about the quality of life and the impact on the landscape.
Emmen therefore asks that the residents on the Dutch side are sufficiently involved in the next steps, such as the assessment of the environmental effects and possible financial compensation. Specific attention is requested for Barger-Compascuum and Emmer-Compascuum. Those who want to object to the application can still do so until 8 August.
Some of the residents are considering taking that step or will certainly do this, such as Capellen. Others, such as dairy farmer Johan Harbers, see little salvation in that. “My experience with the German government is that they do not care much from the Dutch side.”
The expansion plans are not news for him either. “We knew that for a long time.” He has previously seen buses in the Grensland, which were working on soil assumption (research into the capacity of the land). That was a strong hint in terms of which way it would go.
“It is not fun, that is easy. We were previously in New Schoonebeek, where we also had a view of German windmills. With those red lights in the evenings. I always said: it is just like a haunted house with all those lights.”
Ruud Feringa also found out the plans. “I sometimes buy eggs at a stand near the border. I saw that they were also working on land research there.” Feringa cycled behind the vans and discovered that the checks were held at ten locations. “So much would be added first, was my impression.”
But after a phone call with a German knowledge, he learns that mills that were originally planned at Hebelermeer (about a kilometer away) have now been attracted to the Fehndorf location.
But that there would be an expansion, that doesn’t really surprise him. “Two years ago I read something about it in the German media.” Does he also be disappointed with the plans? Not really, he responds. “We live in different times and we have to make a change in our energy consumption. I have no problems with it. And my view? I think I will look exactly by it.”