New Decree Law for the climatic emergency
The Executive Council has passed a decree law on urgent measures for climate emergency and the promotion of renewable energy. The text eliminates administrative barriers to the implementation of renewable energies in Catalonia and resolves various aspects of the Law on Climate Change that had been declared unconstitutional, with the aim of continuing to advance in climate change mitigation and energy transition, and is framed in the weather emergency situation declared by the Government last May.
The decree-law includes the repeal of Decree 147/2009, which limited the implementation of wind and photovoltaic parks in Catalonia, and establishes a new more agile processing procedure. Thus, the implementation of these two technologies is opened throughout the country, always respecting the current environmental, urban and landscape protection figures. In this way, the determination of priority development zones for wind energy and the bankruptcy model for their adjudication disappear, and the maximum occupations for photovoltaic installations are also eliminated, as well as restrictions for their location in areas adjacent to industrial land or agricultural or livestock buildings. In this way, the territory is opened to be a partner in the renewable contribution to the energy system, all lightening the weight of other areas that have historically accumulated the generation.
In addition, a new project-to-project processing model is implemented, which will allow the authorization procedure of an installation to be reduced to 13 months. The new procedure includes the creation of a paper on renewable energies, which will be used to make a consultation prior to the processing of an installation to determine if the projected site is viable and ensure that there are no elements that advise against that location. The procedure will be carried out in a joint procedure that will integrate the energy, environmental, urban and landscape authorizations, and will include both the renewable installation and the energy evacuation line to the grid. It will be possible to process hybrid projects that combine wind and solar photovoltaic energy and share the evacuation line of the electricity generated.
In the same way, the decree law modifies the Urban Planning Law to facilitate and simplify the installation of renewable energies in the urban sphere, with the aim of favoring the implementation of self-production systems in buildings and in the public space of cities. In this sense, for example, photovoltaic installations will not count for the purpose of tracing and will be subject to the prior communication regime. The standard also eliminates aspects that hinder the implementation of thermal insulation measures or the improvement of façade enclosures, among others. It also facilitates the implementation in non-developable land, provided that certain environmental and landscape criteria are met.
Finally, the Climate Change Law is amended in order to recover some articles annulled by the Constitutional Court, written in accordance with the judgment. Specifically, the neutrality of CO2 emissions is set for the 2050 horizon, the electrification of the Generalitat ports, the limitation to fracking or the penetration of electric mobility in the transport sector. Likewise, some details are included in different articles and the prohibition of using coal and petroleum coke in stoves and boilers in new facilities is added, as well as a transitional period of four years to replace them with other fuels with less impact.
An additional provision will enable the Catalan Water Agency (ACA) to act in those parts of the Catalan territory that are in the Ebro and Júcar basin and that depend on the Ebro Hydrographic Confederation to act, in this way, not only before an emergency, but also in an ordinary and structural way in the channels and do the maintenance.
The approval of this decree law should facilitate the achievement of the objectives established both in the Climate Change Law and in the bases of the National Pact for the Energy Transition. According to the first estimates of the Catalan Energy Institute (ICAEN), to meet these goals Catalonia needs to have 4,000 MW of wind and 6,000 MW of photovoltaic solar installed in 2030, starting from 1,270 MW of wind and the 276 MW of photovoltaic solar service.
