Exceptional measures for renewable energy projects

Decree-Law 72/2022 was published on October 19 and amends the exceptional measures for implementing projects and initiatives for producing and storing energy from renewable sources.[1] We highlight five of these new measures:

1.    The regime for the urban planning permission of renewable power plants, storage facilities, self-consumption units and facilities for hydrogen production through water electrolysis is as follows:

a.    Projects with a capacity of less than 1 MW are not subject to prior control, but the project must be communicated to the municipal council in advance using the appropriate declaration of responsibility. The municipal council will then inform the Directorate-General for Energy and Geology.

b.    Projects with a capacity of greater than 1 MW must be communicated to the pertinent municipal council in advance, together with the opinions, authorizations and approvals required by law. The president of the municipal council has eight days to issue an order relating to the submitted communication. This communication may be rejected if it does not conform with the applicable legal and regulatory provisions, or if it has a negative impact on the landscape, except when (i) there is a favorable or conditional-favorable environmental impact statement; or (ii) less than 2% of the area of allocated land in the municipal territory is for renewable projects, including all those that were set up previously or that are exempt from control, or that have current prior control urban operations licenses. This procedure does not require a prior information request to be made, and the interested party can begin work if it is not rejected within the above eight-day period.

2.    As of January 1, 2023, the setting-up of renewable energy production plants and storage facilities that obtain a prior control urban operations license or that are exempt from prior control will be subject to a new compensation obligation to the municipalities—to be paid from the Environmental Fund—amounting to €13,500 per MVA of attributed connection power, in addition to the compensation (concessions) established in Decree-Law 15/2022 of January 14.

3.    In relation to the procedures for the award of grid connection capacity through an agreement between the interested party and the competent public grid operator for constructing or expanding network infrastructure, the ones already granted with a favorable or conditional-favorable environmental impact statement will have priority treatment. Subsequently, the grid operators will implement the remaining procedures based on the sequential order of the other projects ranked according to the terms of reference.

4.    The trial period for projects resulting from the 2019, 2020 and 2021 auctions has been extended by 12 months. This trial period will not be limited by the deadlines for beginning operations established in the auction rules.

5.    Also, for projects resulting from the 2019, 2020 and 2021 auctions, the specific remuneration applicable to each power plant will be updated in line with the consumer price index (CPI)—excluding housing—from the year of the award until the power plant starts to operate, when it is (i) a percentage discount on a certain reference tariff expressed in €/MWh, (ii) a variable premium for differences, or (iii) a fixed premium for flexibility.