German Mosque to Place Wind Turbines in Minarets

BERLIN—A Muslim community is planning to build Germany’s first green-energy mosque with wind turbines in its minarets.

City planning authorities in Norderstedt, near Hamburg, gave the Turkish-Islamic Union for Religious Affairs approval in May for its €2.5 million ($3.6 million) project.

Turbines would be installed in two 22-meter-high (72-foot high) minarets, the thin towers from which muezzin traditionally issue their call to prayer fives times a day. Two 1.5-meter (5-foot) rotor blades would be placed in each tower.

Hamburg-based architect Selcuk Ünyilmaz told BNA June 29 that he hopes to construct the blades out of glass to create an attractive ...