Position Paper on Permitting

SolarPower Europe’s key recommendations on the permitting provisions
of the Directive 2022/0160 in the context of the REPowerEU initiative:

• Adopt provisions to swiftly identify sufficiently large priority areas for the deployment of renewables and, as a second step, identify favourable areas for the upcoming years. The identification of favourable and priority areas shall be consulted with local authorities.
• Identify renewable energy projects, with the exemption of solid biomass, as of overriding public interest. This should not exempt them from environmental impact assessment or from mitigation and compensation measures.
• Ensure that network capacity and access is available, and facilitate the access of renewables to the related transmission and distribution networks.
• Ensure sufficient staffing and skilling of local administration by allocating project processing fees collected, and make information of solar PV projects environmental integration and homogenised best practices accessible at national level.
• Set-up one-stop shops and a single permitting procedure for the whole permitting process by three months from entry into force of the reviewed RED.
• Include clear time limits for all steps of the procedure, “silence means agreement” in administrative procedures, and clear motivation in case of project refusal.
• Introduce specific provision to foster the participation of local citizens in renewable energy projects.
• Set up clear guidelines on environmental and landscape integration to help project developers.
• Include national permitting schemes in NECPs and monitor the deployment of fast and efficient permitting procedures based on Key Performance Indicators (KPIs).