The European Union is determined to accelerate the renewable processing In the continent. The plenary session of European Parliament has agreed this Tuesday that the national authorities don’t take more than two years to approve new facilities of renewable energy, within the update Directive on renewable energy sources. The text, agreed between the MEPs and the Council, was approved this Tuesday by the European Parliament by 470 votes in favour, 120 against and 40 abstentions and must now be formally endorsed by the Council for its approval. entry into force.
The delays in the processing of permits for the installation of parks photovoltaic and wind solar It is one of the big spokes in the wheel for the renewable deployment In the continent. In the case of Spainobtaining an authorization requires an average of four years due to a complex bureaucratic process that in many cases has overwhelmed administrations and caused collapse in some regions.
An example is the case of Catalonia, where many promoters and investors have turned their backs on these projects due to bureaucratic slowness. According to him Observatory of Renewable Energies of Catalonia, delays in processing, “derived from the lack of resources and alternative solutions, make it difficult to achieve the green transition objectives and “they encourage the promoters to give up.” According to this organization, since the approval of the 2019 decree that, in principle, sought to streamline procedures and the subsequent modification that planned to restrict the implementation of renewables, there are 172 large projects presented and pending processing.
In the revision of the Directive approved by the plenary session of the European Parliament, it is established that the national authorities “should not take more than twelve months in approving new renewable energy facilities if they are located in a ‘favorable areas for renewables‘”, while if the installation is outside these zones “the process must exceed the twenty four months“. Member States may extend these deadlines for a period of six months at most if it is duly justified by “extraordinary circumstances”.
Furthermore, in the case of repowering or of small installations of less than 150 kw in priority areas the procedure should not be greater than six months, expandable to another three in exceptional cases; While for offshore wind installations The term will be twelve months, extendable by six.
In Spain there is around 20% of the territory with a low environmental sensitivity and therefore suitable for installations wind and 35% for photovoltaicaccording to the zoning map developed by the Ministry for the Ecological Transition, which locates those areas that present the best conditions for the implementation of wind and photovoltaic projects in order to guide promoters in choosing locations. In addition, there are about 250 square kilometers available for offshore wind energy.
The update of European legislation also includes the mandate to national authorities to designate “one or more points of contact” to guide in the administrative procedure to the applicant, who will not be required to contact more than one point of contact throughout the process, and will be allowed to present the relevant documents in electronic format. Furthermore, no later than two years after the entry into force of this Directive, each State must ensure that all procedures of granting authorizations are carried out ‘online’ form.
45% share of final consumption
Beyond accelerating renewable installation, the update of this Directive increases the renewable energy quota in EU final energy consumption to 42.5% by 2030, although Member States must strive to reach 45%. In the case of Spain, the new draft of the National Integrated Energy and Climate Plan (PNIEC), under review until June 2024, raises the objective of final consumption of renewable energy to 48% by 2030.
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In the sector of transportMember States will be able to choose between a binding target 14.5% reduction in greenhouse gas intensity through the use of renewable energy by 2030 or a binding quota of at least 29% of renewable energy in final energy consumption in the transport sector here to 2030. In addition, it is also provided that the industry will increase its use of renewable energy by 1.6% annually and that the hydrogen used in industry must come from renewable fuels of non-biological origin at a rate of 42% by 2030 and 60% by 2035.
The provisional agreement also establishes a indicative target for the buildings in 2030 when renewable energies should represent a minimum proportion of 49% and establish a gradual increase of the renewable energy objectives for heating and coolingwith a binding increase of 0.8% annually at national level until 2026 and 1.1% from 2026 to 2030.