Court blocks planned solar plant in Mitterkirchen

A planned photovoltaic plant in Mitterkirchen in Upper Austria’s Perg district cannot be built for now, ORF reported. The district authority had approved the energy supplier’s project, but Upper Austria’s environmental ombudsman, Martin Donat, appealed the decision.

The plant was to be built on a large area of nutrient-poor meadow. After consulting experts, the state administrative court concluded that the land was of particularly high importance for nature conservation and that the project could not be approved.

Donat said the meadow was a particularly valuable habitat. “These are orchid meadows, of which 90 percent of the populations in Upper Austria have already been lost. We are therefore not talking about an ordinary habitat,” he said.

Donat stressed that the environmental ombudsman’s office was not generally opposed to ground-mounted photovoltaic plants. Many projects were being implemented in agreement with the responsible authorities, he said, adding that only a very small number received a negative assessment.

In Mitterkirchen, he said, an alternative solution could be possible because other areas suitable for the plant were available near the planned location. It remains unclear whether and where the energy supplier will now build the facility.