Landmark emergency EU law to support rapid solar installations

The EU adopts an emergency law to address the calls from its citizens and industries for a structural, renewable-based, solution to the energy crisis. Meanwhile, EU Energy Ministers were unable to agree a higher, 45% renewables target for Europe for 2030.

BRUSSELS, Belgium (Tuesday 20th December 2022): From January, EU countries will be able to deploy solar projects more quickly. In response to high energy prices, today EU Energy Ministers have adopted an emergency piece of legislation to install more solar energy in time for next winter. The move marks the first time that the EU has used emergency powers to support renewable energy.

Reflecting SolarPower Europe’s call for an emergency renewables booster to complement EU crisis action on gas, EU countries can now legally restrict the timeline of long bureaucratic processes for solar installations. Three months is the new deadline for permitting procedures for solar on ‘artificial surfaces.’ Projects under 50 kW can even benefit from an administrative cap of 1 month – though the size could be reduced to 10.8 kW in case of grid restraints.

The new regulation is set to come into force in January 2023 and run for 18 months. It is intended to ‘bridge the gap’ until the related EU Renewable Energy Directive is updated and adopted next year. The news rules can be applied to existing projects in the pipeline, as well as any further projects proposed before June 2024.

In applying the regulation EU countries will each offer their own definition of what an ‘artificial structure’ is, which could include buildings, industrial and brownfield sites, and transport infrastructure such as carports or carparks, or along motorways and railways.

While the temporary emergency renewable law is in place, the EU is working to set their renewables target for 2030. Despite record-breaking solar installations in 2022, EU Energy Ministers decided to support a target of 40% renewables in the EU energy mix in 2030. This falls short of the minimum 45% target needed to secure the continent’s energy and climate goals. However, this Council decision is not the end of the process. Now, the three leading EU institutions will negotiate the final target, and the European Commission and European Parliament are united behind a 45% target.

Source: SolarPower Europe, 20 december 2022
www.solarpowereurope.org