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Wind turbines in a landscape
Wind turbines in Saxonia in the „Lommatzscher Pflege“, a region close to the Elbe Catrin Schmidt

Landscape and energy transition - new BfN publication

The consideration of the landscape in authorisation and planning procedures often poses problems for planning practice. Standardised federal recommendations for the consideration of landscape aesthetics could be very helpful, especially for cross-border projects.

As part of the departmental research of the Federal Agency for Nature Conservation (BfN), the consideration of landscape aesthetic issues in the expansion of electricity grids and renewable energies has been thoroughly investigated in recent years. With the BfN publication 727 ‘Approaches to the nationwide assessment of the landscape. Recommendations for the application of landscape assessment methods using the example of renewable energies’, a summarising and comparative overview of the various methodological approaches is now available, from which recommendations can be derived for targeted application. The BfN publication uses a total of four methodological approaches as examples in two case study areas in flat and hilly areas and in mountainous regions of Germany.

Catrin Schmidt, Amrei Zürn, Gottfried Hage, Adrian Hoppenstedt, Lena Riedl, Tineke Materne. Ansätze zur bundesweiten Bewertung der Landschaft -Landschaftsbildbewertungsverfahren am Beispiel erneuerbarer Energien. BfN-Schriften 727 (2025)

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(The German publication includes an English abstract.)

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How can the expansion in renewable energies be designed in harmony with nature? The Federal Agency for Nature Conservation (BfN) is providing expert scientific advice on this question to the Federal Ministry of the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (Bundesumweltministerium, BMUB). Research by the BfN always has a practical application and generates scientific results for advising government i.e. supplies a basis for decision-making for the preparation, implementation, monitoring and further development of nature conservation measures and the Federal Government's nature conservation policy.