After a sweeping victory in elections last month, a new coalition between German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democrats (CDU) and the liberal Free Democrats (FDP) in North-Rhine Westphalia state plans to impose a distance rule for wind power that could kill off most new projects.

“We assume that it is legally safe to implement a distance rule of 1,500 metres to pure and general residential areas,” the two parties say in a 125-page-long coalition agreement, arguing such a rule would help maintain the acceptance for wind energy among the population.