Underground power lines instead of vineyards

Germany is facing an energy transition. The phasing out of nuclear energy was long overdue, not only for ecological but also for economic reasons. Fossil fuels, whose share of electricity generation continues to decline but still currently accounts for around 35 per cent, are not available indefinitely. In 100 years at the latest, the remaining raw materials would be exhausted if the production volume remained the same. Because politicians have been asleep for decades, things need to move quickly now. Forward-looking and far-sighted planning have fallen by the wayside. Construction measures are being driven forward with a crowbar that are likely to destroy the economic performance of an entire region and, not least, a wine culture that is thousands of years old. Werner Elflein describes and comments on the situation in Hochheim am Main.

Imagine that someone in France came up with the absurd idea of laying an underground power line through the centre of the Grand Cru vineyards of Vosne-Romanée. Although the cables are embedded in concrete at a shallow depth below the surface, no deep-rooted plants, including vines, are allowed to grow over a width of 40 metres to protect the route.

There is no doubt that the high waste heat from the power cables would have a massive impact on the microclimate in the vineyards. There is also no doubt that the continued cultivation of the affected vineyards would be jeopardised and the affected winegrowers would lose their economic basis. Angry protests would not only be likely, but almost certain.

But while the French still show respect for their cultural assets and such plans would be wiped off the table faster than they could land on it, the Germans are characterised by indifference to their own tradition. Unfortunately, the responsible persons for the destruction of German cultural history, who like to hide behind formal administrative acts, hardly have to fear any serious resistance. As in the case of the unsightly motorway bridge near Ürzig, that spans the Moselle valley at one of its widest points, has cost half a billion Euros and is proven to be completely useless in terms of transport policy. Or, as in the case of a planned underground power line through world-famous vineyards. Not the one from Vosne-Romanée, but, mind you, the one from Hochheim am Main.

In terms of wine law, Hochheim is part of the Rheingau, but lies outside the core area a few kilometres east of the Mainz/Wiesbaden conurbation on the lower reaches of the Main. The wines grown here and in the neighbouring villages differ significantly from those of the rest of the growing region. Both geologically and microclimatically, the conditions in and around Hochheim are completely different to those on the route of the Rhine between Lorch and Wiesbaden.

Wine-growing in Hochheim can look back on around 2000 years of history. Hochheim wine enjoyed great popularity in England as early as the 17^th century under the name “Hock” and was even generally regarded as a synonym for German white wine. A vineyard visited by Queen Victoria in 1845 still bears her name today. Rieslings from the Hochheim Kirchenstück, Hölle, Domdechaney and Reichestal or the Kostheim Weiß Erd are among the most valuable German wines.

Photo: unbekannte Quelle

In 1721, the well-known physician Friedrich Hoffmann wrote in his work Gründliche Anweisung, wie ein Mensch durch vernünfttigen Gebrauch der Haus- und anderen Diätetischen Mittel, insonderheit des Weines, seine Gesundheit erhalten, und sich von schweren Kranckheiten befreyen könne (Thorough instructions on how a person can maintain his health and free himself from serious illnesses through the sensible use of household and other dietary remedies, especially wine): “Der allerbeste Rheinwein, mit welchem sich die höchste Personen von der Welt zu versorgen pflegen, ist der Hochheimer, und wächset bey einem Dorfe gleich gegen Maynz über, disseit des Rheines, nahe am Mayn, wie denn sehr mercklich ist, daß die Weine disseits des Flusses viel besser gerathen, als in den jenseits gelegenen Weingärten.” (The very best Rhine wine, with which the highest people in the world tend to supply themselves, is Hochheim wine, and grows near a village just across from Mainz, on the other side of the Rhine, close to the Main, as it is very noticeable that the wines on this side of the river are much better than in the vineyards on the other side.)

In addition to Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832), the third American president Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) was also a lover of Hochheim wine.

Precisely the best individual locations are now up for grabs for the construction of an underground power line, the so-called Rhine-Main Link, which is to transport electricity generated from wind energy from the North Sea to the southern part of Germany from 2033. The Bundesnetzagentur (Federal Network Agency), which is responsible for planning the route, has used artificial intelligence rather than common sense. Apparently, however, the artificial intelligence was fed with metadata of dubious quality. The result: one of the two planning corridors – purely by chance, of course – would pass the new NATO headquarters in Wiesbaden and then run unerringly from east to west through the centre of the best Hochheim vineyards. The second, preferred planning option essentially cuts through the vineyards between Kostheim and Hochheim from north to south-east. Although Hochheim and its vineyards are actually protected by the Geneva Convention. In the worst case scenario, this would mean a loss of up to a quarter of the existing vineyard area for the affected winegrowers, with some wineries even losing half of their vineyards due to the threat of expropriation.

Gunter Künstler, who has been producing top wines that are internationally recognised for decades, agrees: “If 50 per cent of our vineyards, including the best sites, are lost, it will be the end of our winery because we will no longer be able to meet the commitments we have made for the original vineyards.” In addition to the ruinous impact on the existence of the winegrowers, the consequences for the economic performance and image of the town of Hochheim would be immense.

In politics, the inconsiderate and empathetic behaviour of the Federal Network Agency and the Dortmund-based company Amprion, which has been commissioned with the construction, has been met with outrage from the municipal level right up to the Hessian Minister President and individual members of the Bundestag. A proposal for an alternative route alongside the A3 and A67 motorways and an existing ethylene pipeline, which was drawn up by the winegrowers together with experts, was coldly rejected by the Federal Network Agency without further consideration.

Jonas Knoop, project spokesman for Amprion, told us on enquiry that it was not possible to route the power line outside the so-called preference area, which is only 250 metres wide for both planning variants. “We have to run within this area.”

But there is still a glimmer of hope. “The clear aim is to cross the wine-growing area with a closed construction method, i.e. to drill under the vineyards so that the interference with the vines can be avoided or at least reduced to the bare minimum,” says Knoop [Statements translated]. Instead of the underground power line, which runs just a few metres below the surface, deep drilling could partially avert the damage to the vineyards. However, it is unclear what effects power cables laid at greater depths – ten to 20 metres are being discussed, but vine roots reach up to 15 metres deep – would have on the microclimate of the vineyards. As is well known, heat rises to the surface.

However, even this compromise solution still encounters concerns in some quarters. Bureaucrats pettily point to the higher construction costs and the associated rise in electricity prices. Which is completely absurd. Firstly, we in this country owe the excessively high electricity prices compared to other countries to politically incorrect decisions, as a result of which pricing on the market has become completely decoupled from production costs. In June 2024, a kilowatt hour of electricity in Germany was more than twice as expensive as in the United States. Electricity was even more expensive in only three countries worldwide: Liechtenstein, the Cayman Islands and Bermuda (source: globalpetrolprices.com). Secondly, it is more than questionable why a deep borehole a few hundred metres long should have a significant impact on the electricity price in relation to the size of the overall grid.

The realisation that many other parameters should be included in a holistic cost analysis and not just the construction costs is only slowly gaining acceptance. With the decline of viticulture on the Lower Main and the loss of jobs associated with viticulture, the trade tax revenues of the affected municipalities would fall drastically and social expenditure would rise. Tourism and gastronomy would also suffer massively.

In the meantime, the Hessian state parliament has called for underground cables to be largely avoided. However, the construction of overhead lines would delay the project by at least five years. In addition, the overhead line pylons would require space within the vineyards. As a result, the state parliament's demand has met with little approval from winegrowers.

They in turn, in consultation with Amprion, favour a route from the north to the south-east in conjunction with a power line running at greater depth. Test drillings are now being carried out to check whether this is feasible. The tests are expected to continue until the end of 2026.

It remains to be seen whether the results of the tests will ultimately lead to a satisfactory outcome for the winegrowers and the Hochheim cultural heritage. If Amprion comes across conditions during its underground exploration that prevent deep drilling, the original plan could very quickly be favoured again. However, its realisation would herald the end of the millennia-old Hochheim wine culture.