The beginning of the end for a wind farm. Wind power is an important tool for protecting our climate. But as of next year, thousands of blades（刀刃） in Germany will land in the shredder. But from then on, the country may be closing more wind farms than it opens every year. Germany's political leaders have given in to wind power opponents（对手） and put climate protection（保护） goals at risk. Wind power is one of the greenest types of energy there is.
So why has it run aground in Germany? The A-10 highway（公路） near Potsdam in north-eastern Germany, where plans to build a wind farm along the motorway have been met with resistance（阻力） from almost all the local villages. Except for Schwilose. The plan for expanding wind power is to put up seven, yes seven, wind turbines（叶轮机） in Fair, which belongs to Schwilose. Today we'll be voting for the building contracts（合同）. Kasten Hoppe has been the mayor（市长） of Schwilose for 17 years and has spent years campaigning for climate protection（保护）.
The village is scheduled（安排） to vote on the seven wind turbines（叶轮机） this evening. However, a flyer suddenly surfaces calling on residents（居民） to protest against the plan. After all these years, so many years of debate（争论）, so many talks, this happens today, when we here in Schwilose have been through seven committees（委员会）. Anyone could have attended, nobody did, and now this flyer. So we're very curious（好奇的） about what'll happen tonight. Three hours later, the wind opponents take up their positions.
Just outside the meeting hall, we meet the leader of the Weidkleblatt Citizens Initiative（主动）. Winfried Ludwig prefers a different source of energy. I don't want to use that nasty（下流的） word "nuclear" but there has been a lot of progress in that area. Not nuclear fission（裂变）, but fusion（融合）. How would you feel about a nuclear fusion plant here? Unfortunately we're not that far yet technically（技术上）, we'd have to see.
Getting acceptance（接受） is always a problem. No one wants to have that in their backyard（后院）. Whether it's wind power or nuclear, who wants to have that? In the end, we've all been programmed to want an easy-to-care-for space. That's just how it is. So where should electricity come from?
From coal. That's supposed to be eliminated（排除） by 2038. I doubt it. So we should keep the coal plants open longer? I'd say so. What about climate change?
Is CO2 pollution the only thing ruining（毁灭） the climate? I don't think so. The session（会议） begins at 7 PM. People have just been protesting outside. The tension（张力） in the room is palpable. After an hour-long discussion, they vote.
Everyone in favor, please raise your hand. Those against? None? Abstaining? Two. 21 for and two abstentions.
But those against wind power won't be giving up. A well-organized minority（少数民族） can often determine the outcome（结果）, even though surveys indicate as many as 80% of Germans are in favor of more wind power. Turbines already dot the landscape（风景）. Martin Robinius is the head of a department at the Jülich Research Center near Aachen. For several years, he and a team of 20 scientists have been looking into how Germany can achieve its Energi Wenda, or energy transition（转变）, and reach its climate targets in 2050 as cost-effectively as possible. Wind power is the central backbone（支柱） of the energy transition（转变）, if it's to be implemented（实施） economically（在经济上）.
In addition to wind energy on land and at sea, wind is also the central element in relation to photovoltaics. The Jülich researchers use high-performance computers to calculate（计算） how to bring about an affordable（负担得起的） energy transition（转变）. About half of today's energy requirements（需要） could be saved by switching to electric cars and innovating（创新） heating systems, and making（使） cuts to industrial（工业的） consumption（消耗量）. The rest of the energy demand（ 要求） has to be met mainly by CO2-neutral（中立的） electricity. This electricity is generated（产生） by offshore wind farms, biomass generator（发电机） plants, solar（太阳的） cells（细胞）, and above all, land-based wind turbines. To achieve this as cost-effectively as possible, wind turbines will have to supply more than half of green electricity in 2050, for which Germany would need around twice as many wind farms.
The scientists' calculations（计算） show if less energy comes from wind farms, the climate targets will not be met, or Germany's energy transition will become significantly（意味深长地） more expensive. The build rate of new wind turbines has been decreasing（减少） for years, meaning their proportion（比例） in energy produced hasn't grown quickly enough. To reach climate targets, four gigawatts will have to be added each year. This year will hardly increase over last year's output（输出）. And more turbines may be taken off-grid（网格） than added in 2021. One of the reasons for the collapse（倒塌） in wind power expansion（扩充） can be seen in Westphalia and northwestern Germany.
Johannes Lachman and Michael Flocke are working（使工作） on a project of great relevance（ 相关性） to the energy transition（转变）. They want to have fewer turbines producing more wind power by repowering the turbines. This entails（使需要） replacing 11 old ones with eight new, more powerful turbines. These should enable（使能够） them to deliver three and a half times as much electricity as before. Three years after applying, they finally received the permit（ 许可证） in summer of 2019. However, there are hundreds of conditions in the permit.
One of these says that we are only allowed to operate（操作） during complete darkness（黑暗） between the 1st of March（三月） and the 31st of October. That's absurd（荒谬的）. That would mean losing 40 percent of our annual（年度的） yield（产量）. Downtimes like that don't only obstruct（阻隔） energy transition（转变）, they could also make it extremely expensive. Ever more conditions, endless（无止境的） approval（批准） procedures（程序）, and the frequent（频繁的） legal disputes（争论） are making（使） expansion（扩充） difficult. The daytime（日间） shutdown aims to protect local wildlife（野生动物）.
The red kite is a common bird in the region, and yet the bird population here on the Padeborn Plateau（高地） has been stable（稳定的） for years, in spite（(in ～ of)不顾） of the wind turbines（叶轮机）. Four months later, wind farm operator（操作人员） Lachmann is trying to solve a problem. He's hoping a Dutch（荷兰的） team and this special bird can extend（延长） the new wind farm's operating time. Here we have a female peregrine（隼） falcon（[动](猎鸟用的)猎鹰）. A female is a bit bigger, about 50 grams. Now we'll do a test to see if the wind turbine will stop running when we get close with the bird.
So the wind turbine should stop if you get close? Correct. This we'd like to see. The robo-bird is normally used at airports to scare（ 惊吓） away birds that could disturb（打扰） air traffic. Here, it's being used to test whether cameras on the tower pick it up and slow down the turbine. Now we'll see if it stops.
It's relatively（ 相对地） close now. An accredited expert is also watching the experiment. It's turning slower, right? Yes, definitely. What's important here is that birds can detect（察觉） slow movement and avoid it.