02/01/2023
Source: Energy & Management Powernews
The implementation of the EU Emergency Ordinance is intended to accelerate procedures for the expansion of onshore wind energy, wind energy at sea and for offshore connection lines and power grids.
The Federal Cabinet decided on 30 January the draft of a formulation aid for the implementation of the so-called EU Emergency Ordinance (EU 2022/2577) submitted by Federal Minister of Economics Robert Habeck (Greens). It will now be forwarded to the Bundestag, he said. It will apply from Dec. 30, 2022, for a period of 18 months in all EU member states and is intended to help cushion the current energy crisis. Habeck said, "The procedures for the expansion of onshore and offshore wind power plants will once again become much faster. This also applies to the expansion of power lines." Thus the traffic light coalition increases the dynamics of the energy turnaround.
Together with the reform of the Renewable Energy Sources Act (EEG), the increase of the maximum rates in the tenders for wind power and solar plants and a number of other changes, the federal government had cleared the way for the acceleration. "The federal states and the licensing authorities now have the legal basis to push ahead with the expansion of wind power at full speed and to approve plants quickly," the minister said.
Protection of species should be preserved
Renewables are climate protection, a location issue and they mean security of supply, he said. Still, he said, species protection is important and will be materially preserved. "There will continue to be protection and compensation measures," Habeck promised. The so-called EU Emergency Regulation had been decided on December 19 in the EU Council of Energy Ministers and allows a significant acceleration in the Member States.
It is implemented in national law through amendments to the Wind Energy Area Requirements Act, the Wind Energy at Sea Act and the Energy Industry Act. Core contents are all approval procedures of wind energy plants on land and at sea as well as electricity grids from a capacity of 110kV, which are started before June 30, 2024. Also already started approval procedures can benefit from the facilitations.
For designated RE and grid areas that have already undergone a strategic environmental assessment (SEA), the obligation of the environmental impact assessment (EIA) and the species protection law assessment is omitted in the approval procedure. The operator shall implement appropriate and proportionate avoidance and mitigation measures or provide financial compensation into a species assistance program. The requirements of the Birds, Fauna-Flora Habitats and EIA Directives on species protection assessment and EIA are overridden for the scope of the regulation.
Repowering made easier
For repowering of renewable installations or grid reinforcement measures, the EIA is limited to a delta test, i.e. the additional impact of the new installation or line compared to the existing installation or line. In the case of repowering of solar plants, the EIA requirement may not apply at all under certain circumstances. The duration of approval procedures for the installation of solar energy systems (including rooftop PV and PV on artificial structures such as landfills) is reduced to three months. For installations below 50 kW, an additional approval fiction will apply.
The duration of approval procedures for heat pumps with an electrical output of less than 50 MW will generally be reduced to one month and for ground source heat pumps to three months. In addition, a connection right is established for heat pumps up to 12 kW or up to 50 kW in self-consumption.
Wind power industry pleased
The president of the German Wind Energy Association (BWE) sees in the submitted regulation: "the potential to significantly accelerate the procedures in the coming months, at least in the designated areas." At the same time, Hermann Albers appealed that this important advance should not now be allowed to fizzle out due to its limited validity and limited availability of wind energy areas. For the long-term effectiveness it needs a permanent anchoring in European and German law and the rapid designation of further wind energy areas.
The deadline in the regulation of six months for approval applies from the time the authorities confirm the completeness of the application. "This makes the authorities the bottleneck here," Albers said. Completeness is often declared late, and in some cases not at all, he said. "In order for the intended effect to unfold here as well, it would therefore be important to flank the Emergency Ordinance with the amendment to the Federal Immission Control Act, which was announced some time ago," the BWE president warned. In addition, the authorities must be equipped with more staff in the short term so that as many repowering projects as possible can be initiated while the ordinance is still in force.
Author: Susanne Harmsen
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