Law Decree of 24 February 2023, no. 13 (PNRR 3) - simplifications for renewables

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Law Decree of 24 February 2023, no. 13 (PNRR 3) - simplifications for renewables

Law Decree of 24 February 2023, no. 13 (PNRR 3) - simplifications for renewables

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March 3, 2023

On 24 February 2023, Law Decree no. 13/2023 on urgent provisions for the implementation of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR) and the Complementary Investment Plan (PNC) was published in the Official Gazette. Effective from 25 February 2023, Law Decree no. 13/2023 (Decree) contains, among others, several provisions aimed at simplifying the authorization procedures for renewable energy installations. The Decree must be converted into law by Parliament within 60 days, otherwise it loses effect retroactively. The Decree is subject to any amendments that may be made during its conversion into law. The table below provides a summary of the key provisions on environmental impact assessment, installation of plants powered by renewable energy sources, and simplifications of renewable energy authorization procedures.

Article	Scope	Description
Article 19, paragraph 2	Environmental Impact Assessment (VIA) – Preliminary Verification of Archaeological Interest (VPIA)	It is no longer necessary to include the act of the Superintendent concerning the VPIA interest with documents accompanying the VIA application (letter g-ter, of Article 23 of Legislative Decree no. 152/2006 has been repealed). The issuance of the VIA resolution does not first require the conclusion of the activities of preliminary verification of archaeological interest in accordance with Article 25 of Legislative Decree no. 50 of 18 April 2016, or on the performance of preventive archaeological surveys as stipulated in Legislative Decree no. 42 of 22 January 2004 (please refer to new Article 25 paragraph 2-sexies of Legislative Decree no. 152/2006).
Article 47	Areas suitable for plants powered by renewable energy sources and reduced buffer strips	Under Article 20, paragraph 8, of Legislative Decree no. 199/2021 as amended by the Decree, areas suitable for the realization of wind farms and photovoltaic plants are those areas that are not included in the perimeter of assets subject to protection in accordance with Legislative Decree no. 42 of 22 January 2004 (the Cultural Heritage and Landscape Code), nor fall within the buffer strip of assets subject to protection under Part II or Article 136 of the Cultural Heritage and Landscape Code. This is without prejudice - during the authorization procedures - to the competence of the Ministry of Culture to express its opinion in relation only to projects located in areas subject to landscape protection. For the purposes of the definition of suitable areas for plants powered by renewable energy sources, the perimeter of the buffer strip (i.e., the distance from a protected area to consider the area suitable) is reduced from 7 km to 3 km for the installation of a wind farm and from 1 Km to 500 meters for photovoltaic plants.
	Simplified procedures for the installation of photovoltaic plants located in areas for industrial, artisanal, and commercial use	Article 22-bis has been introduced into Legislative Decree no. 199/2021, providing that ground-mounted photovoltaic plants and their related connection works, to be located in areas classified as industrial, artisanal and commercial use, as well as in landfills or closed and restored landfill lots, or in quarries or quarry lots that cannot be further exploited, are freely installable without the need of any permits, authorizations or other acts of consent. Under the new Article 22-bis, the installation of said plants is in fact considered as ordinary maintenance activity (manutenzione ordinaria). If the intervention falls within an area subject to landscape constraints, the installation of the photovoltaic plants must be preceded by a special report to be sent to the competent Superintendence, which has the authority to block, within 30 days, the activity and order the restoration of the site. The rule does not give further indication about the possible consequences on the proceedings (e.g. possibility to defer the objection to a different authority and/or the necessity to activate a steering committee proceeding).
	Interventions in contiguous areas (aree contermini) and opinion of the Ministry of Culture	The Decree repeals paragraph 2 of Article 30 of Law Decree no. 77/2021 converted by Law no. 108/2021, according to which, in the case of authorizations for installations adjacent to areas subject to landscape protection, the Ministry of Culture expresses its opinion at the Steering Committee (Conferenza di Servizi) with a mandatory but nonbinding opinion, and after this deadline the competent Authority decides on the application. As a result of the amendments to paragraph 3-bis of Article 12 of Legislative Decree no. 387/2003, in the event that the project is located in areas subject to landscape protection, the Ministry of Culture participates in the single authorization procedure for renewables, as described in the new paragraph 4 of the same article (see below), but only for projects not subject to an environmental impact assessment (within which the participation of the Ministry of Culture is provided by Legislative Decree no. 152/2006). The provision that the Ministry of Culture intervenes in the case of contiguous areas to protected assets has been repealed. Any provision on contiguous areas provided for by the Guidelines on the authorization of plants for renewable energy sources (Ministerial Decree of 10 September 2010) and by the related implementing acts or measures that are incompatible with the discipline of Article 12, paragraph 3-bis, seen above, is repealed.
	Single authorization (Autorizzazione unica) procedure for renewable source plants	As already provided for in Article 12, paragraph 4, of Legislative Decree no. 387/2003, the authorization for the construction of plants fueled by renewable energy sources is issued following a single procedure in which all administrations concerned participate. Such single authorization (autorizzazione unica) constitutes a title to build and operate the plant in conformity with the approved project and must include the obligation to restore the state of the site at the expense of the operator following the decommissioning of the plant or, for hydroelectric plants, the obligation to carry out environmental reinstatement and recovery measures. With the amendment introduced by the Decree, issuance of a single authorization (autorizzazione unica) includes the environmental impact assessment (VIA) resolution (if applicable). For this reason, the deadline for concluding the Single Authorization proceeding is extended from 90 days, plus those needed for the VIA measure to be issued, to 150 days. In case of environmental assessment procedures in progress on the date of entry into force of the Decree, the single authorization (autorizzazione unica) procedure referred to in said Article 12 may also be started by the applicant pending the procedure for the issuance of VIA measure.
	Installation of PV and thermal plants on buildings in historical centers	The Decree also introduces an amendment to paragraph 5 of Article 7-bis of Legislative Decree no. 28/2011, concerning the simplification of authorization procedures for the realization of energy efficiency interventions and small renewable energy plants. When it comes to the realization of photovoltaic and thermal plants in historical centers (zone A of the municipal urban planning instruments) if the competent authority pursuant to the Cultural Heritage and Landscape Code does not issue its authorization within 45 days from receipt of the application, such authorization is deemed as issued and is immediately effective. The abovementioned time limit can be suspended only once and for a maximum of 30 days if, within 15 days of receipt of the application, the competent authority provides a precise and reasoned explanation of the need to carry out in-depth investigations or to make changes to the project. As described below, the procedure described above also applies to the installation of wind power plants with a power output of up to 20 kW, located outside protected areas or those belonging to the Natura 2000 Network.
	Modification on existing electrical stations	Modification on existing electrical stations which may also trigger the increase of the volume (aumento di cubature) are admitted without the necessity of a building title, provided that the modification refers to equipment, technological components or buildings that exclusively serve the same electrical stations.
Article 49	Simplified authorization procedure (PAS)	The Decree introduces a new paragraph 7-bis in Article 6 of Legislative Decree no. 28/2011 governing the PAS procedure. This procedure, which is envisaged for renewable energy plants with a lower capacity than those authorized through the single authorization (autorizzazione unica) under Legislative Decree no. 387/2003, is completed with the silence of the administration, which is equivalent to consent (special situations are an exception to this). In order to give more stability to the authorization, this novelty provides that, if the competent municipality does not block work within the 30-day period, the proponent must transmit a copy of the declaration for publication in the Official Bulletin of the Region where the project is to be realized. The Region publishes the declaration in its Official Bulletin within the following 10 days. The time limit for challenging the measure starts from the day of publication.
	Electrochemical storage and renewable energy plants	The Decree amends Article 1, paragraph 2-quater of Law Decree no. 7/2002, which establishes the procedures for the construction of electrochemical storage plants functional to the needs of the electricity sector. In the event that the electricity production plant powered by renewable sources is in operation or already authorized, even if not in operation, the construction of the abovementioned plants is authorized through a simplified authorization procedure (PAS) in accordance with Article 6 of Legislative Decree no. 28/2011.
	PV Plants in agricultural areas	Article 11 of Decree-Law no. 17/2022 is amended. PV plants located in agricultural areas, if placed outside protected areas or areas belonging to the Rete Natura 2000 Network, subject to the definition of suitable areas in accordance with Article 20, paragraph. 1, of Legislative Decree no. 199/2021 and in compliance with the limits allowed by any prescriptions, if placed in areas subject to landscape constraints, are considered instrumental artefacts (manufatti strumentali) for agricultural activities and are freely installable if they comply with these conditions: They are carried out by agricultural entrepreneurs or by joint ventures with electricity producers to which the same agricultural entrepreneurs have transferred the company or the relevant going concern, except for the technical aspects of plant operation and energy transfer. The solar panels are placed on top of the crops at least two meters above the ground, without foundations in concrete or difficult to be removed. The solar panels are compatible and integrated with the agricultural activities, having a support function for the crops or the irrigation systems or the shading systems for the purposes of the contextual realization of monitoring systems, to be implemented on the basis of the guidelines to be adopted by the Council for Agricultural Research and Analysis of Agricultural Economics, in cooperation with the GSE. The installation is in any case conditional on the consent of the owner and cultivator of the land, subject to a consideration to be paid.