How Has Wind Generator Placements Hit A 'Brick' Wall In Germany?

 In the early stages (going back to the 1970s).....no one in West Germany had a problem in getting a 'permit' to put up a couple of wind-generators in some German valley.  

I would suggest to the early 1990s....you could walk in and find a site that made sense (was in a 'wind-path') and was acceptable to locals.

In the 1990s....things evolved.  

Germans started to claim that there were vibrations in the air currents, 'something' that bothered cows, dogs and cats, and that creatures of the forest were not being considered when the permit business got attention.

Any science to this?  So far, I've not noticed any university study to say that vibrations exist, or that people or animals are bothered by 'something'.

This challenge business has made placement more difficult.  I'd say presently, in most German states.....you won't get permission anymore to place a wind-generator within a kilometer of a urban area, farm, or village.  Some states have stated regulations that suggest 1.5 kilometers is the minimum that a wind generator must be from the outer footprint of a wind-generator.

I sat two years ago and watched a site survey guy for a wind-company talk about this.  He pulled out a binder....just one single survey/permit collection for one single group (3x) and he suggested that he was now on the 3rd year of trying to get the nearest village to agree.

In my valley (in Hessen), they had locals who were landscape-view enthusiasts.....so they didn't want anyone to cut down 20 acres of trees on a hillside...to place 5 or 6 wind-generators.  On the opposite side of the valley....in the state of the Pfalz....there were probably 20 wind-generators placed already.....where trees had been cut down.

The 'save-the-mice' routine?  Again, in my region (Hessen), this became a big deal as some type of special forest mouse could not be bothered with the trees to be torn down.

Most of these companies will tell you now.....in various states (like Bavaria), it's gotten near impossible to proceed on.  

A federal problem?  The Berlin folks want a no-excuse type of environment....where you would designate twenty acres of property and meet the 1-km rule, and no one could openly challenge your placement routine.  

The odds that the feds will control this mess?  I'm not that sure, and via the Constitutional Court....this might drag on several years.