On 18 May 2022, the European Commission (DG ENER) published the report “Technical support for RES policy development and implementation – Simplification of permission and administrative procedures for RES installations (RES Simplify)” prepared by the international consultancy eclareon GmbH in cooperation with the Institute for Applied Ecology (Oeko-Institute e.V.), and two European renewable energy associations - WindEurope and SolarPower Europe.

The aim of the report is to provide insights on the most important obstacles impeding the diffusion of renewable energy technologies in the permitting and grid connection procedures. It also discusses best practice examples deployed by the EU Member States as well as Iceland and Norway, and general best-practice recommendations which can be promoted with regard to permitting new and repowered renewable energy installations and connecting them to the grid.  Finally, it outlines how Member States can establish optimised processes and supporting IT infrastructure that are compliant with the relevant requirements as imposed by the Renewable Energy Directive Recast (RED II). In addition to the main report, the consortium produced 29 comprehensive national reports detailing permitting procedures and related barriers and good practices at national level.

Currently, the Consortium conducts the dissemination and promotion of the identified best practices with policy makers and regulators, renewable energy associations and private sector representatives to collect ideas and suggestions to further improve the permit granting procedures in EU countries. Feedback from the discussions will feed into policy recommendations at EU level to further optimise permitting procedures for renewable energy projects, thereby contributing to the achievement of the ambitious renewable energy targets at both Member State and EU level by 2030 and beyond.

The main RES Simplify report can be found here.

The national reports can be found here.