C 177/150
EN
Official Journal of the European Union
17.5.2023
Wednesday 14 December 2022 (7a)
Complex, lengthy and opaque administrative procedures have a disproportionate impact on citizens, local authorities and SMEs, acting as renewables self-consumers individually or through aggregators and renewable energy communities.
This is often due, in particular, to a lack of experience or expertise, financial and human resources to navigate permitting and grid connection processes.
It is necessary to make it easier for non-professional and non-commercial market actors to successfully navigate obtaining relevant approvals.
This should be facilitated by simplification, where necessary, as well as dedicated windows where these actors do not have the same capacity as other professional well-resourced market participants.
The integrated multilevel planning and mapping of renewable energy, should reflect the local planning and mapping carried out at local and regional level as well as identify the estimated staff, training, financing and technical needs of permit granting authorities.
(8)
A faster roll-out of renewable energy projects should be supported by integrated multilevel planning and mapping of renewable energy carried out by Member States in structured corrdination with local and regional authorities.
Member States should identify the land, surface, sub-surface and sea areas necessary for the installation of plants for the production of energy from renewable sources in order to meet their national contributions towards the revised 2030 renewable energy target set out in Article 3(1) of Directive (EU) 2018/2001.
as well as sub-targets set out in Articles 15a, 22a, 23(1), 24(4) and 25(1) of Regulation (EU) 2021/1119 and the climate-neutrality objective set out in Article 2 thereof.
Such areas should reflect their estimated trajectories and total planned installed capacity and should be identified by renewable energy technology set in the Member States’ ▌ national energy and climate plans updated pursuant to Article 14 of Regulation (EU) 2018/1999.
The identification of the required land surface, sub-surface and sea areas should take into consideration the availability of the renewable energy resources and the potential offered by the different land and sea areas for renewable energy production of the different technologies, the projected energy demand, taking into account energy and system efficiency, overall and in the different regions of the Member State, and the availability of relevant energy network and grid infrastructure, energy storage facilities, including thermal storage, and other flexibility tools bearing in mind the capacity needed to cater for the increasing amount of renewable energy, the potential of involving citizens actively in the energy system, acting as renewables self-consumers individually or through aggregators and energy communities.
Moreover, Member States should ensure that the administrative permits to build, repower and operate plants for the production of energy from renewable sources referred to in Article 16(1) and (2) are considered as final decisions on the outcome of the procedure of the competent authority or competent authorities on the determination of land use for the area where those plants will be located.
(9)
Member States should designate as renewables acceleration areas those areas that are particularly suitable to develop renewable energy projects, differentiating between technologies, and where the deployment of the specific type of renewable energy is not expected to have a significant impact on the environment and food safety with regard to agricultural production.
The renewables acceleration areas should be particularly suitable for the installation of plants for the production of energy from renewable sources.
However, biomass combustion plants should be excluded from the renewables acceleration areas, except for installations located in an outermost region as referred to in Article 349 TFEU, where due to specific needs, exceptions could be taken into account.
In the designation of renewables acceleration areas, Member States should avoid protected areas and consider restoration plans.
Renewables acceleration areas should at least be established for wind turbines and solar plants and could be established for biomethane production plants.
Member States may designate renewables acceleration areas specific for one or more types of renewable energy plants and should indicate the type or types of renewable energy that are suitable to be produced in each renewable acceleration area.
(9a)
The production of food needs to take priority over production of energy and the production of energy should not lead to reduced food production or reduced crop yields, but the two activities can and must coexist and should exploit synergies.
To do so, it is necessary to facilitate the production of renewable energy in its various forms, in locations that are easily accessible to farmers, and in line with the needs of the farm.
Member States need to avoid designating productive farmland, agricultural areas producing high-quality agri-food products and products with a special connection to the local landscape and culture as acceleration areas.
The exploitation of renewable energy sources, such as biomethane production, should be encouraged in areas that are in close proximity to agriculture sites, namely those that are close to farmland and on-farm sites, and on non-agricultural areas situated on