German parliament passes legal changes to speed up renewables

Germany's Bundestag on Friday approved a package of regulations that aim to accelerate the expansion of renewable energy across the country and speed up approval procedures.

The measures include legislation for the implementation of the so-called EU emergency regulation from the end of 2022 and an amendment to the Regional Planning Act (ROGAendG) concerning regulations in the Wind Energy Area Act, the Offshore Wind Energy Act, the Energy Industry Act and the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Act.

The draft law proposed by the federal government in January was adopted at the Bundestag, the federal parliament, with the votes of the Social Democrats (SPD), the Greens and the Free Democrats (FDP).

The EU emergency regulation provides for exemption from certain steps in the approval procedures in order to push the expansion of renewables across the bloc. With the resolution of the Bundestag from Friday, these measures will be implemented in Germany's national law.

In detail, the new regulations will apply to all approval procedures for onshore and offshore wind as well as power grids with a capacity of 110 kV or more that are launched before June 30, 2024. Approval procedures that have already started can also benefit from the simplified rules under certain conditions as well as operators of ground-mounted solar parks.

The regulations were approved also by the Bundesrat, Germany's legislative body that represents the 16 federal states.

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