Permits remain a bottleneck for the expansion of wind energy in Europe. By mid-2023, according to WindEurope, approximately 80 GW of new wind capacity was still tied up in permitting procedures, including 59 GW onshore. Things are going better. Significantly more permits for new onshore wind farms were approved in 2023 than in previous years, largely thanks to new EU rules.
The figures for Europe
Both Germany and Spain showed an increase of 70% compared to the previous year. In 2023, 7.5 and 3 GW of new permits were granted respectively. In France there was a 12% increase in permits to 2.2 GW last year. And the UK saw a 10% increase by approving just over 1 GW of onshore projects. Improvements weren't just limited to the largest markets. The number of permits also increased in Greece and Belgium, for example.
New EU rules
The increase in issued permits is mainly due to new EU rules. Particularly arising from:
Emergency Regulation on Permitting
Revised Renewable Energy Directive (RED III)
An important element in the new rules is the Overriding Public Interest (OPI) , or the higher public interest in being able to give priority to renewable energy projects that are challenged in court. It also obliges governments to digitalize their licensing procedures. And the impact on biodiversity now requires developers to consider the entire population of a species rather than individual animals.
Governments in EU countries have started transposing and implementing the revised RED III. This will allow a comparison of the situations in the different markets and reveal where improvements are needed.
Acceleration
The application of the overriding public interest has already proven effective in accelerating several projects embroiled in legal disputes. France, Portugal and Austria have followed suit by including OPI in their legal frameworks.
Paul van Egmond, sector specialist on Onshore Wind at NedZero, explains the status in the Netherlands:
“Ministries in our country are also busy implementing RED III and OPI. The 'acceleration areas' mentioned in the new EU rules are currently being defined and must be incorporated into regulations before July 2024.”
New regulations have played a role across Europe to speed up licensing. The acceleration in Spain is mainly a result of more licensing personnel. And Poland has made gains through a new minimum distance of 700 meters from buildings. Previously, the minimum distance was ten times the height of the turbines, making it almost impossible to develop new onshore wind projects in Poland with state-of-the-art wind turbines.
Digitization
Digitalisation should also enable comparison and acceleration, as many countries still require developers to send multiple paper copies of their applications to different licensing authorities at national, regional and local levels. In the Wind Power Package, the European Commission proposed setting up a digital licensing platform to support Member States in the digitalization of licensing processes. WindEurope, AWS and Accenture have developed an open source tool that can help public administration and local communities speed up the entire permitting process.
Even though licensing has improved significantly, there is still a long way to go. The EU needs to build 30 GW of new wind energy per year to meet its 2030 targets. The current permit volumes are not sufficient for this.
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