4th NCA Platform Meeting

Saatja: EVANGELISTA Hugo <[email protected]> Saadetud: 19.04.2023 21:06 Teema: 4th NCA Platform Meeting 24 April: Final agenda and last meeting's minutes Manused: image001.gif; Agenda NCA platform Meeting 24 April 2023.pdf; Draft Minutes 3rd NCA Platform Meeting - 16 December 2022.pdf; 4th Meeting of the NCA platform.ics Dear members, Please find attached the final agenda for Monday which includes an access link. Please be reminded that the European Commission units in charge of the Renewable Energy Directive and the Nature Restauration Law will be presenting in this meeting. As such, we incentivise you to use this opportunity to clarify any concerns you might have with them and to bring to the discussion any possible permitting acceleration measures that you are considering and that might have a link to environmental law. Additionally, please find attached the minutes from the last meeting for your approval. If I do not have any comments on the minutes until next Friday, they will be uploaded on CIRCABC as per usual. As this meeting has a shorter agenda, with only one national regime presentation, there will be an ample opportunity for dialogue amongst ourselves and also with all the colleagues presenting. Looking forward to a productive discussion with you all on Monday. Kind regards, Hugo HUGO EVANGELISTA Legal & Policy Assistant European Commission Directorate-General for Energy (ENER) Infrastructure and Regional Cooperation (ENER.C.4) BRU-DM24 06/117 B-1049 Brussels/Belgium +32 229 - 59274 [email protected] Need help? Go to https://help.webex.com 14:00 | (UTC+02:00) Brussels, Copenhagen, Madrid, Paris | 2 hrs Join meeting More ways to join: Join from the meeting link https://ecconf.webex.com/ecconf/j.php?MTID=m25a8e43ebbbeb43b9aa30daa63 bd63f9 Join by meeting number Meeting number (access code): 2744 309 4440 Meeting password: ubPGsTH*348 (82747840 from phones) Tap to join from a mobile device (attendees only) +32-262-00867,,27443094440#82747840# Belgium Toll +352-2730-0072,,27443094440#82747840# Luxembourg Toll Some mobile devices may ask attendees to enter a numeric password. Join by phone +32-262-00867 Belgium Toll +352-2730-0072 Luxembourg Toll Global call-in numbers Join from a video system or application Dial [email protected] You can also dial 62.109.219.4 and enter your meeting number. EUROPEAN COMMISSION DIRECTORATE-GENERAL FOR ENERGY Directorate C – Green Transition and Energy System Integration C.4 – Infrastructure and Regional Cooperation Meeting of the National Competent Authority (NCA) Platform 16 December 2022, Online Minutes The European Commission welcomed the NCAs by informing of last-minute cancelation on the first agenda point (presentation) and thanking the members for their contributions towards the 2022 monitoring exercise and the permitting regime mapping exercise. The commission gave a status update on the ongoing platform initiatives and restated the importance of identifying measures for permitting acceleration in all Member States. 1. Presentation of National Permitting Regimes 1.1. Presentation of the Latvian permitting regime The Latvian NCA presentation elaborated on the status of highest national significance which may be available to PCI projects and awarded by a Cabinet of Ministers order. While this status is available for some PCIs, it requires additional requirements and assessments. It is available only to key projects based on their specificities. The national significance status accelerates the awarding of building permits and simplifies coordination with landowners when projects affect their ownership rights. Additionally, environmental assessments are required for lines of over 220 kV and wind power over 50 MW, but the national significance status can speed up the assessment for large wind and solar power plants. This leads to permits for capacity over 0,5 MW of projects with this status being granted within a month (1). More generally on the role of the NCA tackling permitting delays, this is focussed on contacting the relevant municipal and environmental authorities (which retain their autonomy) through information letters. The Latvian NCA is also the RES one-stop shop. In terms of cross-border coordination, they coordinate closely amongst the three Baltic States. (1) Note that projects under 0,5 MW do not require a permit decision, but just an approval for connection to the distribution grid. Commission européenne/Europese Commissie, 1049 Bruxelles/Brussel, BELGIQUE/BELGIË - Tel. +32 22991111 Office: DM24 06/145 - Tel. direct line +32 229-62369  1.2. Presentation of the Italian permitting regime The Italian NCA presented its national permitting process the PCI Sacoi 3, clarifying that building permits can only be requested after the preliminary public consultations (Conferenza di Servizi). The process continues, with an environmental impact assessment (EIA), before the building permit is granted and the final public consultation takes place. The final public consultation is in essence a validation of the first assessment done by the TSO. Regarding the preliminary and final public consultations, these ensure that, preparations, impacts landowners and any other issues are identified in advance, giving promoter a chance to adapt and change their project early on. Regarding EIAs the Italian NCA informed that they might not be required for certain projects in the future, as changes in procedure, mainly aimed to mitigate overlaps in procedure, made EIAs not necessary, for example in the case of underground and submarine cables. Both of these elements are made available for permitting processes regardless of PCI status. The Italian permitting regime is the same for all grid projects, PCI and non-PCIs. The main goal of the procedure is not to overlap the same authorities in the permitting process. 2. Substantive discussion: 2.1. Comprehensive decision under the TEN-E Regulation The Commission clarified the definition of the comprehensive decision, in accordance with what it means under the different permitting schemes of the TEN-E Regulation and clarified that it should not lead to additional decision-making regardless of the document format. In other words, following Art 8(3) para 5 of the TEN-E Regulation it must be implemented in the most efficient manner and be already available after all the permits that are in fact necessary to enter the ready to build stage (as e.g. building permits) are obtained. It does not have to contain very local detailed permits, e.g. for parking near the construction site or for the organisation of the construction site. A short tour de table on the different NCAs practices took place: IE - uses a letter format to grant project promoters certainty on the formal finalization of the process and the consensus reached. It also marks the start of the period for review (8 weeks). DK- Includes all the documents and decisions necessary to start works in the ground in a descriptive permit listing. Minor details and authorisations are not included, but building permits are as a way to ensure the relevance of the decision are included. The environmental approvals take the most time to be obtained. RO – All relevant permits are included in a final decision which lists all the permits including the building permit, shortly after the permits themselves have been granted. FR – No specific decision that all steps have been completed, just a step-by-step approval. Authority reaches out to the promoter when all approvals have been obtained. 2 CY - Under its collaborative system the NCA is responsible facilitating, coordinating, and monitoring the PCI licensing process, overseeing timely issuance of all opinions, permits, approvals required by the relevant authorities, also of issuing the PCI licensing manual. MT- The NCA, under the integrated scheme, takes the binding decision as the competent authority. Consultations of other authorities take place, with 30 days for consulted authorities to reply, and the absence of replies amount to a positive decision. 2.2. Acceleration of permitting for grids 2.2.1. Presentation of the emergency regulation on the acceleration of renewable energy deployment The Commission made a presentation on the new emergency regulation on RES deployment, currently under discussion for political agreement, addressing how it could be relevant for the development of grids permitting. 2.2.2. Tour de table on national initiatives IT – Proposals are already in force in Italy, namely the upgrade of existing EIA scheme applies only to additional power capability. AT – NCA informed that the ministry currently working on acceleration measures for projects that do not require an EIA. When the act is finalized, it is expected to accelerate RES deployment, but consent of the federal states still pending. This act will cover grids, but an assessment on which grids will be covered is not yet available. Currently no permit is required for cables up to 45KW. DK – NCA looking into regulation impact on DSO and TSO and assessing the possibilities increased building capacity. Currently looking into exemptions from the natural restoration law requirements for PCIs, and the possibility of having permitting procedures running in parallel to address any lack of flexibility in the system and ensure cross-border connections. National exercise expected to be concluded in the spring. 2.3. Reporting under the TEN-E Regulation 2.3.1. ACER presentation on the PCI monitoring and data collection and the challenge for future reporting exercises ACER presented the PCI monitoring process under the old TEN-E Regulation, its tools for data collection, and looking into challenges under the new TEN-E Regulation and the solutions that create the least administrative burden. ACER suggested holding a detailed presentation of its IT tools and experiment on PCI monitoring in the first semester of 2023. 2.3.2. Initial assessment of the 2022 NCA reporting exercise The Commission presented the initial assessment of the 2022 NCA reporting exercise, emphasising the overall status of projects and delays identified. 3 3. Miscellaneous & closing remarks: The Commission thanked the NCAs for the first year of the Platform, recapping the ongoing work on the smart grid permitting paper, national regime mapping exercise and the revision of the guideline on streamlining environmental impact assessments, and restating its commitment to finalise it on the first half of 2023. In light of the ongoing exercises, the members agreed to hold the next NCA Platform meeting mid-April 2023. Actions Points  Next NCA platform meeting will take place mid-April 2023  The Commission to share the draft paper on Smart grid permitting with the NCAs.  The Commission will circulate a draft agenda ahead of next meeting  The Commission to prepare and launch a mapping exercise of how comprehensive decisions are addressed by the different NCAs.  The Commission will make all the presentations available on the NCA Platform CIRCABC library.  NCAs to prepare to share their experience on PCI monitoring, consider any additional data requirement compared to the current data collection, and discuss legal or technical issues concerning the practical difficulties of ACER tools for data collection. For an NCA meeting in the first semester of 2023.  NCAs to provide comments on the smart grids’ permitting paper ahead of the next NCA platform meeting. 4 EUROPEAN COMMISSION DIRECTORATE-GENERAL FOR ENERGY Directorate C – Green Transition and Energy System Integration C.4 – Infrastructure and Regional Cooperation Meeting of the National Competent Authority (NCA) Platform 24 April, 14:00 - 16:00 Webex Access Link: Webex (by CISCO) AGENDA 14:00 - 14:10 Welcoming remarks - Presentation of the results of the 2022 reporting exercise conclusions. 14:10 - 14:55 Discussions on substance - Conclusion on Grid permitting under the revised Renewable Energy Directive: o Presentation for DG ENER Unit C.1 on the agreement reached with the Parliament and the Council on the permit granting procedure applicable to grids under the revised Renewable Energy Directive o Tour de table - Environmental assessments: o Update from DG ENER on the need for MS to adopt measures to streamline environmental impact assessments under the TEN-E Regulation o Presentation from DG ENV Unit D.3 on the Nature Restauration Law negotiations and the concept of Overriding Public Interest Commission européenne/Europese Commissie, 1049 Bruxelles/Brussel, BELGIQUE/BELGIË – Tel. +32 22991111 Office: DM24 06/117 – Tel. direct line +32 229-59274  o Tour de table 14:55 - 15:40 Presentation from Members on their national regimes: - Presentation of the German permitting regime for PCIs o Q&A 15:40 - 16:00 Miscellaneous & closing remarks - Update on the non-paper “Best practices on permit granting systems applicable to smart grids projects” - Organisation of the upcoming meetings: attendees and date 2