SPD on climate and energy

The SPD wants all of Bavaria's electricity to come from renewable sources by 2035 at the latest and aims for a climate-neutral Bavaria by then. Climate protection would become a mandatory task for municipalities so that they gain legal certainty and a financial basis.

The SPD wants Bavaria to use only clean power from 2035. The power should come from wind, sun, and water. Climate protection should become a fixed duty for towns and cities. They should get money and clear rules for it.

The program treats a secure and affordable energy supply as an essential public service and as a factor for attracting business. Expansion targets would follow future demand, and obstacles, especially in state planning, would be removed. An investment program would support municipalities, municipal utilities, energy cooperatives, housing companies, and business networks with renewable power and heat. Research funding for the energy transition would be expanded. Rather than debating personal sacrifice and consumption, the SPD wants to create the conditions for climate-neutral production.

The SPD wants to return the generation and distribution of electricity, gas, and heat to state or municipal ownership as far as possible. It cites the Bavarian hydropower plants of the Uniper group as an example. In the program's view, energy supply must not be left to private shareholders' pursuit of profit.

The SPD wants energy to belong to the state or to towns again. This covers power plants and grids. For example, Bavaria should take over Uniper's hydropower plants. The state should also help shape prices.

The hydropower plants between the Main river and the Karwendel mountains would be separated from the Uniper group, which the federal government took over, and brought into public ownership before the reprivatization required by the EU by 2026. Grid expansion and the control and shaping of prices would also be organized publicly again. Where the state helps private companies finance the transformation, it would do so not through grants but in exchange for equity stakes that give society a say.

The SPD wants to abolish Bavaria's 10-H distance rule for wind turbines and speed up permits considerably. It aims to set aside two percent of Bavaria's land area for wind power. Operators would be required to give municipalities and citizens a stake in their turbines.

The SPD wants more wind turbines in Bavaria. It wants to scrap the 10-H rule. This rule requires a large distance between turbines and homes. Permits should be faster. Towns and citizens should share in the earnings from wind turbines.

The 10-H rule generally requires a distance of ten times a turbine's height from residential buildings; the program calls it a stop on wind power. The SPD wants to go beyond the federal government's expansion targets. Following the model of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, operators would be obliged to let municipalities and citizens participate in wind projects. A center for Bavarian citizen energy would support the founding of energy cooperatives, which would also receive more funding. In the program's view, an affordable and secure energy supply can only be achieved with a strong expansion of wind power.

The SPD wants to introduce a solar panel requirement for all new buildings and conversions, both commercial and private. In addition, solar installations on other surfaces would be subsidized and made possible on listed historic buildings.

The SPD wants a solar mandate. Anyone who builds or converts a building must then install solar panels. This applies to businesses and private homes. Bavaria should also support solar panels over parking lots and on lakes.

Funding would go to installations over parking lots and highways, on farmland (agri-PV), and to floating installations on artificial bodies of water (floating PV). Heritage protection rules would be reviewed and adapted so that listed buildings can also have solar panels. The program states the aim of advancing the expansion of photovoltaics.

The SPD wants to speed up the expansion of power lines, distribution grids, and large energy storage facilities. A Bavarian heat strategy would advance heating networks, waste heat, and geothermal energy. Hydrogen production, especially for industry, would also be supported.

The SPD wants to build new power lines faster. This should bring wind power from the north to Bavaria. Bavaria should build large energy storage sites. More heat should come from the ground. This is called geothermal energy. Hydrogen for industry should also get support.

According to the program, the direct-current lines would open up northern Germany's renewable potential for Bavaria and so ease energy costs; distribution grids and feed-in points would also be modernized. Storage for short, medium, and long periods is planned, including large batteries at former nuclear plant sites. Municipalities would get help with heat-use plans and money to expand local and district heating. A geothermal initiative would bring together research, companies, and municipal utilities and speed up expansion in southern and northern Bavaria. Green hydrogen projects would receive sufficient funding, and energy-intensive industries such as the Bavarian chemical triangle would be connected to west German and European hydrogen networks.