18 May 2022
Industry recommendations on accelerating permitting for wind energy
On 18 May 2022, the European Commission published its “REPowerEU Action Plan”: a set of initiatives that will help the European Union to wean itself off Russian fossil fuel dependency by fast forwarding renewables build-out. Crucially, the REPowerEU Action Plan acknowledges the need for wind energy permitting to be “drastically accelerated”. The Commission therefore tabled a new legislative proposal on renewables permitting, and presented recommendation and guidance to Members States for simplifying processes.
In addition to the European Commission’s steer, the European wind industry is sharing with national Governments a full list of measures they can additionally take to simplify and accelerate permitting for renewables. These include for instance applying common sense spatial planning rules, streamlining judicial frameworks to maximum 2 legal appeals, or applying the principle of “positive silence’ to all renewable energy projects.
