Josefov residents in Czechia reject wind turbines in referendum

Residents of Josefov in the Sokolov region do not want wind turbines within the municipality’s cadastral area. They decided so in a local referendum on Saturday. An investor had planned to build two turbines there. The municipality could have received contributions to its budget and carried out planned investments for which it would otherwise have struggled to secure funding. A total of 192 of the 327 eligible voters took part in the referendum; 141 voted against, representing 73.8 percent of valid votes cast. The referendum is legally valid. The municipality published the results on its website overnight.

Meridian Nová energie s. r. o. wanted to build two turbines in the municipality. The company would have provided the municipality, which has around 400 residents, with both a one-off payment and regular annual contributions to its budget. The sites for the turbines were selected last year and are about a kilometre from the nearest dwelling, in the direction of Krajková. They are agricultural land owned by Agro&Kombinát Dolní Žandov, with which the investor had agreed to lease the plots. The investor wanted to build two turbines near Josefov, each with a capacity of 6.2 MW and a total height of nearly 250 metres. Under the law, the next opportunity to approve the construction will come in two years.

Wind turbines already stand in the area around Josefov, and the village has a direct view of the wind farm near Jindřichovice. Meridian Nová energie also plans to build turbines in neighbouring Krajková. However, residents were concerned about negative impacts, falling property prices, noise and visual effects. Arguments from experts failed to convince them.

Josefov is a municipality made up of several settlements. In addition to Josefov itself, it includes Luh nad Svatavou, Hřebeny and Radvanov. Among other plans, the municipality intends to build sewerage systems in the settlements and needs a pavement along the main road; it also has other development plans. However, with a budget of around seven million crowns, it cannot even afford to co-finance these projects. The investor had promised the municipality a one-off payment of two million crowns and annual payments of 1.2 to 1.4 million crowns, adjusted for inflation. It also offered to install solar collectors on municipal buildings.