Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) –Key or Hindrance for the Expansion ofRenewables in Germany and Japan?
Webinar on June 25th, 2020

Summary of the Q&A Session

ECOS GmbHJuly 2020

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Webinar on EIA in Germany and Japan – Summary of Q&A Session
Key Questions (moderator Johanna Schilling, ECOS):
1. How can the balance between hindering and promoting effect can be improved?
2. How much public participation is necessary? Is it crucial for the acceptance of new RE
projects?
3. What else would help to increase public acceptance and to fasten the expansion of RE?

Takahiro Hosokawa, Environment & Energy Technology Dept., Asia Air Survey Co., Ltd.:In Japan, it is the developer which finds a suitable place and proceeds the process ofdevelopment, and they can implement projects wherever the want – in principle. They get incontact with only a relatively small number of relevant people such as landowners or local
governments, because they could face the risk that people oppose the project at the earlystage of planning. Most of the local residents get to know the development project from EIA
for the first time.
So, in order to avoid this situation, the policy of the site zoning led by local government will
be helpful. The local government selects areas where renewable energy can be promoted. For
the zoning, local governments can hold open meetings with relevant stakeholders and list up
suitable areas for renewable energy. In this way, it is expected that local residents make some
sort of agreement on coming projects before EIA starts.
For the development for offshore wind power, Japan enacted a new law last year, andprefectural and central government implemented zoning. The Ministry of Economy, Trade andIndustry (METI) and the Ministry of Land, Transportation and Infrastructure (MLTI) together
with prefectures, relevant local government experts and stakeholders - mainly fishermen - set
up meetings and discussed the guidelines or points which the selected developers need toconsider. The developer is afterwards selected through bidding. This new system for offshore
wind park is thought to reflect the local opinion or direction well before EIA starts. Together
with the new movement of offshore wind power, the Ministry of the Environment (MoEJ)
launched a loaning program for onshore and offshore wind power energy for several local
governments. This programme gives local people more chances to get informed about
renewable energy and helps to find favourable areas for its development.
Maybe this kind of zoning is very effective to improve or promote renewable energy in Japan.

2Webinar on EIA in Germany and Japan – Summary of Q&A Session
Lars Langeleh, Financing & Sales, WestWind ENERGY:On local environmental impacts in Germany, we have to differentiate here. In Germany for allprojects, if PV or wind onshore, we have the situation that we have to view on several zonings.
We have the regional zoning, which is developed by the county. Then we have the community
zoning. And at the end the approval of the application of the proponents. At all 3 zonings wehave to make an environmental impact assessment.
So, if you say we have 3 years development time here in Germany, that’s from a practical pointof view today not more possible. Because we have legal circumstances that first if we
recognize a zone or a land for a power plant, if PV or onshore wind, we have to consider that
this land has to be recognized by the regional zoning plan, by the community zoning plan andthen at the end to get a permit for that project. On the other hand, we have legal claims thenagainst permits which also comprehend the zoning plans. Meaning, you needed 3 years, 4years, 5 years to go through these processes and at the end a court then says the permit isdeleted and the zoning plan is deleted. So, when somebody claims today against a permit andhe tries also to claim against a zoning plan. That makes from a legal point of view very difficultin Germany to gather really secure permits.
From our practical point of view, we also try to make an EIA with public participation even forsmall projects with 2 turbines for example. For a project with let’s say 5 turbines we have also
to consider the regional plan of a county. The Federal State behind and also the target of theState are important, but we have to consider the regional zoning plan and that is the zoning
plan of the county, which probably as in Japan is a really big area to consider. In some counties
they define a zone in their county where wind energy is possible or not and also for big solar
plants, primarily in Eastern Germany. In Eastern Germany the regional zoning plans are more
important than in Western Germany and that makes it very difficult to come to a successfulproject.

Question/comment (audience):
From the point of EIA, public participation might be more effective if it is done during the periodof zoning (if zoning system is more encouraged). But at the same time, I think public
participation for each project would be essential to secure local benefits by introducing theproject.

3Webinar on EIA in Germany and Japan – Summary of Q&A Session
Q1 (audience):
Is it more costly to install offshore wind parks in Japan than in Germany due to thegeographical conditions? If so, how many years does Japan need in terms of depreciationcompared to Germany?
A1 (Hosokawa):
Yes, of course. Sea level is very much deeper from the shoreline, so floating wind farms areneeded in Japan. 17 years is the depreciation period for wind projects, designated by law

Q2 (audience):
The Japanese PV power generation volume is bigger than the one in Germany. Is it because thenumber of the installation in Japan is larger or the sunshine efficiency?
A2 (Moderator):
I compared the installed capacity (MWp) in my presentation. The solar impact in Japan is alittle bit higher compared with Germany, but it depends on the region. And even in Germany
we have regions with very high solar impact. So, it is really because of the bigger installedcapacity like the actual number of panels and the installed surface of PV.

Q3 (audience):
Do you have insights into differences of features/characteristics of public
engagement/interest/discourses on a regional/local level? I would think it might be moredifficult to get public in Japan engaged and interested as well as discourses differ.
Moderator: How active are the citizens in Japan in the EIA process? Is the public in Japan reallyinterested in participating in this process? Are they giving their opinions? Are they attending
the meetings when the project is explained?
A3 (Hosokawa):
It depends on the project or developer. If the developer explains in early stage, developer justget a few opinions. However, if the developer explains not well, or residents worry especiallyabout infrasound noise, people together submit opinions to the developer. In that case thenumber of submitted opinions is more than 100.

4Webinar on EIA in Germany and Japan – Summary of Q&A Session
Q 4 (audience)
Even though the EIA processes look similar between Germany and Japan, I would imagine thatthe actual internal procedures differ because of more vertical (tatewari) character of decision
making in Japan compared to a more horizontal style in Germany.
A4 (Langeleh):
We actually see also a vertical problem in Germany from the regional area to the local area.
There are some politicians who think more in the way that the communities should decide
which power plants should be built - PV and wind energy - on their land and not the regionalor the Federal State side or at the end the National Government. So, to bring the responsibility
more on the community area and not on the County, Federal State or National Governmentside would help very much to bring the discussions more to the locality to decide.
And I think it is also the same if we speak today about sector coupling, hydrogen and so on.
We are now in the situation that we can provide energy for heat and electricity within the areaof the local community – also with wind energy. So, it makes sense to bring this decision on
the local community area or responsibility, because they need the heat and electricity at first
and then all regional people. So, if we come to the situation that we only agree on the local
community side, this would be very fine. We also develop a project in Romania (EasternEurope), and the permit authority there is on the local area as long the project site is in thearea of the local community. So, there is no vertical decision-making. There is only a decision
making on local community responsibility side.

Q 5 (audience):
If in Japan, it depends on the developer to what degree the public is engaged in the EIA process,does it mean it is a top-down structure? I.e. more top-down from the developer who is assignedby the government, than bottom-up grassroots.
Moderator: I mentioned the Buergerwind Parks (citizens co-operatives) in Germany whichsometimes propose to erect wind turbines. Then, from the start the citizens are involved. Ithink this is more often the case than in Japan. I think in Japan it is often the case that thedevelopers for example for big megasolar parks or offshore wind parks, are Marubeni or
Kawasaki Heavy, and NEDO is giving the money, so it is a more top-down process, is that right?
A 5 (Langeleh):
I have to say, we have here many Buergerwindparks, and they sometimes loose permit atcourt. So, the participation in Buergerwindparks or wind farms or public wind farms isdifferent. You have people who are against the wind farm and they do not want to participate

5Webinar on EIA in Germany and Japan – Summary of Q&A Session
as owner of the wind farm, and they claim against the wind farm. So that is not really an issue
to get a higher acceptance.
We actually have a high acceptance of renewables in Germany. A new study from last year of
our association FA Wind (Fachagentur Wind) says that we have 93% acceptance for onshorewind. So, the acceptance here in the population of Germany is very high, perhaps higher thanin Japan - I do not know for onshore wind. Because we have really high instalments of windenergy here. But we have to convince the people who live directly in the neighbourhood of
the wind farm. From our point of view, it is very important to let them participate via theelectricity bill, so that they get cheaper electricity than other people, because they are living
near a wind power plant.
Moderator: I think this is one measure that can be taken: you provide cheaper electricity if awind turbine is installed in the neighbourhood. So, this is an advantage for the citizens that
may raise the acceptance.

Q 6 (moderator):
Do you think that in Japan zoning, for example for the offshore wind farm projects, is a more
top-down process by the central government, or are the regions really involved here?
A 6 (Hosokawa):
Recently more regions are involved. Central government just makes the opportunity todiscuss, just prepares the place for discussion between the stakeholders. The central
government does not have any rights to promote the project, for example offshore windfarms, just local governments or committees involving the local government or stakeholders(especially fishermen). The committee decides if the offshore wind farm is good or not.
[Addition (Hosokawa): In Japan, local land use plans don’t have the area for renewable energy.
Some local governments make zoning plan for renewable energy with support of MoEJ. For
port area, where MLTI and prefectural government control, sea use plans can include the area
for renewable energy. Central Governments such as MoEJ, MLTI, METI generally provide
subsidies and a platform by organizing a conference. The result of the conference is very
important. From the view of national subsidy including FIT, it will be top-down approach.
However, project phase such as the place or size, it depends on developer.]Moderator: Also in case of the offshore wind zoning project in Japan which is now going on(11 zones, 4 have been assigned as advanced zones), the central government says, “we will dozoning”. And then the regional local government decides “we will apply”.

6Webinar on EIA in Germany and Japan – Summary of Q&A Session
Hosokawa: Yes. The Prefectural Governments recommend feasible offshore wind areas to theCentral Government. Then, the Central Government reviews the request and decides whether
the area is suitable or not.

7Webinar on EIA in Germany and Japan – Summary of Q&A Session
Questions which have been not answered due to shortage of time:Q7 (audience):
You mainly discussed local environmental consequences. How much attention is devoted to
non-local consequences (e.g. environmental consequences of material mining elsewhere in theworld) in EIAs in your countries? Would it be good to have a larger focus on these non-local
impacts, or would that delay the development even further?
Moderator: this might be related for example to PV production, because rare materials areneeded. Is EIA only concerned with local consequences in Germany or also worldwide?
A7 (Hosokawa):
It is very difficult to say how wide the range of a social responsibility of developers is.
Developers can declare environmental consideration for material of solar panels in EIA
documents. However, it is difficult to predict the impact of non-local impacts and to execute
mitigation measures about non-local impacts because developers can’t control such a broadarea. The possible way to mitigate such impacts for developers is to select an environmental
friendly company for materials. If it is enough description in EIA, it doesn’t take long time.

Q8 (audience):
Do you have ideas how to get the public more involved/interested in Japan?
A8 (Hosokawa):
For more public involvements, when local governments make land-use plan or energy plan,
public meetings or public involvements should be done. For more public notice,environmental education is very effective, I think.

Q9 (audience):
The question is: is the acceptance increasing or decreasing in the local people and public? Myfeeling is, it is decreasing because nobody likes the wind park (not beautiful!)A9 (Hosokawa):
In Japan, it depends on developer’s attitude. I think more supports from central or local
governments are necessary, too. If natural disaster is prevented by renewable energy, public
acceptance is increasing near future.

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