Mayor of Mersch Michel Malherbe still remembers when his municipality was asked over ten years ago if they would be interested in a wind farm. Originally, the plan was to install ten wind turbines.
The current project started out with six wind turbines, but that number has been cut to four, with only one of those turbines being constructed on Mersch’s territory. The remaining three will be installed in Rollingerberg as well, but on the other side of the municipal border, in Lintgen.
The tallest turbine, including the vertical rotor, stands at 206.5 metres. The diameter of the rotor alone is 115 metres, while the diameter of the tower is 13 metres.
The municipality of Fischbach sees the planned wind farm as “an enormous disruption to nature and our everyday lives.” On its website, the municipality lists multiple ways in which it would negatively impact the town.
Our colleagues from RTL.lu reached out for comment but received no response from the local authorities.
The operator is perplexed by the accusation that Fischbach has been left behind. While it is true that the village of Schoos, which is part of Fischbach, is now slightly more impacted, Paul Zeimet stresses that there is a distance of 1,300 metres and the project is significantly below the “strict Luxembourgish thresholds.” Zeimet notes that the noise level mustn’t exceed 37 decibels, for example.
Michel Malherbe says that he does not know whether the local authorities in Fischbach are “grumpy.” The Mayor of Mersch only knows that during the information meeting, the Schoos representatives were “up in arms” against the wind turbines. Malherbe reiterates that the turbines will not be built on Fischbach’s land.
The network operator in Mersch confirms the existence of a joint venture with Soler and that everything is in order. Regarding noise levels, Pete Hoffmann points out that they are “below those of a fridge” and come from the outside, meaning that people will not be able to hear the sound. As for the shadow, Hoffmann notes that it will be so scattered due to the great distance that it will also be imperceptible.
The Mayor of Lintgen is also bewildered by the reaction of his colleagues in Fischbach. Henri Wurth notes that there were no protests in Lintgen, despite the fact that the town is closer to the wind farm. “If you want alternative energy as a municipality, you can’t build your wind farm in Belgium,” Wurth says.
Both Wurth and Malherbe stress that the municipality of Fischbach has received the same information and was present at the meetings.
