Wind and sun are free, but it’s harder to get renewable energy projects built these days. Here’s whySPRAKEBUELL, Germany — The wind gusting across north German farm country brings much to the village of Sprakebuell: fog and rain from the sea, the occasional migrating stork, the faint smell of manure in the newly fertilized fields.
The dividends from citizen-owned wind parks don’t make the recipients rich. Instead, the money is a little extra jingle, a financial buffer “that’s very important for us because it gives us a certain freedom,” said Astrid Nissen, 44, who with her husband manages a 150-cow dairy farm on the village’s outskirts.
In Sprakebuell, the number of family farms shrank from 26 in 1960 to three larger ones today, and it was on the verge of being merged with a neighboring village 30 years ago. These days, it’s home not just to farmers, but people who work a half-hour away in the city of Flensburg. Not everyone takes part, but all residents see benefits. There’s a shared electric car in the middle of town that anyone can book by smartphone app for 2.50 euros an hour. A small grocery store has opened with an attached cafe, and a restaurant serves lunch daily — signs of new purchasing power. Some similar-sized villages in the region have neither.
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