EU Energy Ministers’ emergency permitting measures to speed up renewables deployment will only unlock a “small fraction” of projects under development, trade association WindEurope has warned.
In a letter to the ministers, more than 20 wind industry CEOs have called for urgent changes and for the emergency measures to apply to all permits.
Permitting is the main bottleneck for the expansion of renewables, stated WindEurope with an estimated 80GW of wind energy capacity in permitting across Europe.
The simplification and acceleration of permitting is essential, not least to strengthen Europe’s energy security, stated the letter.
The new EU energy strategy REPowerEU does a lot to simplify permitting, the letter has acknowledged, such as introducing new rules that will apply to all renewables, both new projects and those in the permitting process.
The European Council recently agreed there should be further emergency measures to accelerate permitting which are now up for agreement at a meeting of the Energy Council on 24 November.
WindEurope said: “As they stand, the emergency measures would only apply to new permit applications so would only unlock a small fraction of the wind energy projects currently under development.
“This is a step backwards compared to the REPowerEU measures.”