Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
planner Rosemarie Rübsamen had to put together another wind
survey, after which the output had to be corrected downwards to
only 800 000 kWh/year per wind turbine. After a preliminary
inspection and always looking to be on the safe side, a further safety
margin was calculated and the output corrected downwards again.
This farsighted and cautious approach later proved lifesaving for
the survival of the Lübow Wind Farm.
And this is what happened: In 1996, it was experienced all
over Europe that here was 0% less wind. Additionally to our
own capital, we had taken out two loans to help financing the
Lübow Wind Farm, a DtA and an ERP loan through KfW, a the
German reconstruction bank, with a repayment phase of years.
Through the lower output as a result of the reduction in wind, we
experienced financial constraints in paying back the loan and so we
could have not stick to the 6% rate of return. To avoid an overdraft
of 0% or more, the limited partners themselves invested new
funding in the wind energy company over a limited period of time
at a 6% interest rate. In this way, 6 years later after the
construction, we are still owners of the wind farm. Many other
companies, who did not plan so carefully, have lost their wind
farms.
22.5
Friends from All over Europe
Our aim was to get capital resources through deposits from the
citizens of the region. The citizens of Lübow and the region were
very sceptical after the reunification, so we reduced the share
limit down to DM 1 000 (EUR 500). But that was also not sufficient.
So we recruited investors among my European friends and
Rosemarie Rübsamen among her German friends. The result
was the first European financed wind farm with investors from
Austria, Switzerland, Sweden, and East and West Germany.
The financial participation of our friends could not be valued
highly enough but the foreign financial participation also could
not be claimed on tax. German investors in those days were able
to use investments in wind energy by writing them of on tax.
We had thought of a special concept for the community. We
paid the 0-year leasehold on the municipal ground in advance
and hence gave the municipality the possibility to financially
participate in the wind farm as a silent investor. Today, after
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