Minimising administrative barriers

The major administrative constraint for renewable electricity production is long lead-times.

In the EU, lead-times for small-scale hydro power development vary from twelve months (Austria) up to twelve years (Portugal and Spain). In France, wind power developers have to allow four to five years to move from a project outline to electricity production.

Setting deadlines for the decisions of each authority will help, so long as authorities can keep to them. Especially on a local level, administrative bodies often lack experience in dealing with industrial size projects.

In addition, lighter administrative procedure should apply to small scale renewable electricity projects.

Another important barrier for the development of renewable energies is a high number of authorities involved in the licensing process. A drastic example is in France, where twenty seven different authorities are involved before a large scale wind power project can start to produce electricity. In some Italian locations, up to fifty eight permits from different authorities are needed for small-scale hydro power plants.

A clear separation of responsibilities is desirable, but it makes sense to appoint one-stop authorisation agencies who are responsible for coordinating the various administrative bodies. The different parts of the authorisation process - the industrial plant procedure, the grid connection procedure and the environmental assessment - have to be coordinated but at the same time clearly separated.

Special planning provisions can facilitate the administrative handling of a project and improve social acceptance, especially in the case of wind power development and biomass projects.

Nowadays, the longest part in the licensing process for new capacity is waiting for the necessary planning permits. By including potential renewable energy projects production into spatial planning programmes, the development of future projects can be anticipated. The introduction of renewable energy projects into the German building code from 1996 can be considered as a good example. This provision states that each community has to designate specific areas for the development of wind power projects. In doing this, the administrative process has been shortened and it only takes one to two years to erect a wind turbine in Germany.