Cross-Border Landscape Conflicts—A Case Study of the Gersweiler-Klarenthal Wind Farm on the Franco-German Border

With the rapid expansion of renewable energies, Germany’s Energiewende (energy transition) is changing spatial structures and associated landscape concepts. Above all, the ongoing construction of wind turbines brings with it conflicts in which landscape-related arguments are highly relevant. Conflict-laden negotiation processes can arise in border regions due to diverging (national) energy policies and differing new-energy emphases. If we look at the Franco-German border, wind power in particular represents a point of conflict in the energy sector. On the example of the German Gersweiler-Klarenthal wind farm near the French border, the article examines—from a constructivist perspective and in combination with landscape research and border studies—how and with what results wind power can be negotiated across national borders. The analyses are based on a method mix that includes regional newspaper articles, interviews with decision-makers and experts, and the website of the local citizens’ initiative against the wind farm project. To summarise the results: The central patterns of argumentation and areas of conflict concern the proximity and height of wind turbines, the visual and acoustic disturbance caused by the wind farm, and its impact on local fauna. Landscape as traditionally understood becomes a conflictual moment of negotiation. However, the negotiation processes also demonstrate that the conflictual moments around the installation of the wind turbines have positive implications, expressed in the desire to promote Franco-German cooperation.