The NRW Renewable Energies Association (LEE NRW) has inaugurated Germany’s first federal freeway energy avenue on the occasion of the Renewable Energy Action Day. The A31 federal freeway between the Bottrop interchange and the Schüttorf interchange has been rededicated as the “A31 Energy Avenue”.
In the NRW section of the A31, there are now 135 wind turbines to the left and right of the freeway, each in a three-kilometer section of the route. At each of the two locations Heiden and Heek, a sign has been placed directly on the A31 route, which in its appearance is based on the signs for cultural attractions on freeways.
You can find the press release of LEE NRW here
Greeting to the event by Irm Scheer Pontenagel:
Dear Ladies and Gentlemen
Dear friendsThank you very much for your kind invitation to unveil a large banner on the day of action on April 30, 2022 at the locations Heiden and Heek in the district of Borken, each within sight of the highway, in order to rededicate the federal highway A31 between the interchange Bottrop and the interchange Schüttorf to “Energy Avenue”.
According to your information and an evaluation, there are now 135 wind turbines on the left and right of the freeway in the NRW section of the A31 and therefore a good reason to publicly unveil the renaming to “Energy Avenue A31” on the nationwide Renewable Energy Day.
Of course, I am particularly pleased that this action is linked to Hermann Scheer’s idea of the “A7 Energy Avenue”. He saw it as a lighthouse project along Germany’s longest highway, which would run from north to south through the entire country. The project not only increases the chances for wind power, but also for PV plants such as those already being built today as noise barriers or for biomass plants in neighboring communities. In his opinion, the construction of wind power plants along federal highways was particularly suitable, since here the landscape was already changed by the route construction anyway and helped to refute the otherwise frequent accusation of “encroachment on the landscape”. Hermann Scheer’s Energieallee A7 project demonstrates the enormous potential of previously unused areas and the opportunity to include them in regional energy concepts. Inaugurating this new energy avenue on the A31 today is a building block in this project. The network of roads, rails and even today 85% of unused roofs and facades of our houses have a potential that disarms all those who are concerned about competition for land.
Where do we stand today? The industrialization of the world on the basis of fossil energy sources and their emissions in the atmosphere have their price – climate change threatening the world. How fast we manage the energy system change with renewable energies will be existential.
The A31 project is therefore also a building block for accelerating the demand for 100% renewable energy now!
I congratulate all participants and actors!
Irm Scheer-Pontenagel