News
03. February 2023
HFK Update: EU emergency regulation to speed up approval procedures for wind power and solar plants/ Federal cabinet paves the way for simplified expansion of wind power plants
On December 30, 2022, the EU Emergency Regulation EU 2022/2577 (https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/DE/TXT/?uri=CELEX:32022R2577) came into force, which aims to speed up the process of obtaining permits for the production of energy from renewable energy sources. It will be in effect for a period of 18 months until June 30, 2024, and may be extended thereafter upon proposal by the Commission.
The aim of the regulation is to reduce the impact of the current energy crisis and the burden on European consumers and businesses, as well as to protect the European energy market against Russia's actions regarding the energy supply by providing short-term solutions to the energy supply crisis.
Procedures for granting permits for renewable energy projects are to be streamlined and accelerated without the need for complex changes to national procedures and legal systems.
According to the regulation, the approval process for solar plants may not take longer than three months. In the case of solar energy plants with a capacity of less than 50 kilowatts, the tacit approval of the administration is deemed to have been granted after only one month without a response.
The approval process for repowering projects, including any environmental impact assessments, may now take no longer than six months.
There is also a rebuttable presumption that renewable energy projects are of predominant public interest and serve public health and safety as defined by relevant environmental legislation.
For the implementation of this regulation, the ministers of the coalition of SPD, FDP and the Greens agreed on a draft formulation guide (www.bmwk.de/Redaktion/DE/Publikationen/Energie/kabinett-beschliesst-beschleuniger-fur-wind-und-netzausbau-formulierungshilfe.pdf?__blob=publicationFile&v=8) on January 30, 2023.
The draft provides for amendments to both the German Wind Energy Area Requirements Act and German Wind Energy at Sea Act, as well as the German Energy Economy Act.
The amendments are intended to remove the obligation to carry out an environmental impact assessment and a species protection assessment for installations if a Strategic Environmental Impact Assessment has already been carried out for the designated RE and grid area. This means that the approval procedure will be simplified and, above all, carried out more quickly.
All approval procedures for onshore wind turbines, offshore wind turbines and electricity grids with a capacity of 110 kV or more that are commenced before June 30, 2024 fall within the scope of the ordinance. However, approval procedures that have already begun are also to benefit from the simplifications.
In order to continue to meet the requirements of species protection law and to "materially preserve" species protection, operators must implement appropriate and proportionate avoidance and mitigation measures, which are to be ensured by the responsible authority. If such measures are not possible, the operators must provide financial compensation in a species protection program.
The draft is now to be forwarded to the Bundestag so that the amendments can be passed quickly and enter into force.
Your contact persons:
Wulf Clausen, Lawyer, Specialised Lawyer for Administrative Law, HFK Hamburg, clausen@hfk.de
Stefan Söchtig, Lawyer, HFK Hamburg,soechtig@hfk.de
Dr Thorsten Behle, Lawyer, HFK Hamburg, Environmental Consultant (WBSU), behle@hfk.de