Chamber: Municipalities’ role must be strengthened and rules adjusted to accelerate renewables in Czechia

Strengthening the role of municipalities and establishing rules for wind farms in forests and for the use of state-owned land. These are the key measures proposed by representatives of the Chamber of Renewable Energy Sources (RES) to accelerate the development of renewables in Czechia in the forthcoming law on accelerating the use of renewable energy sources. The draft is currently undergoing consultation. Chamber representatives told journalists today that permitting renewable energy projects is among the most complicated in Europe.

The draft law was prepared by the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MIT) in cooperation with the ministries of the environment and regional development. It follows a government resolution adopted this April, in which the cabinet approved a procedure for designating so-called acceleration areas for the construction of renewable energy sources. These will be areas where solar and wind farms can be permitted more quickly. Preparing and permitting projects in these areas is expected to take up to 12 months.

One of the key prerequisites for accelerating renewable energy development, according to the chamber, is to give municipalities greater autonomy throughout the permitting process across the whole Czech Republic. „Municipalities should be able to overcome blanket bans imposed from above and should be guaranteed a share of revenues from operators even when they do not reach an agreement directly with them,“ said Štěpán Chalupa, chair of the Chamber of RES. The chamber has proposed, for example, requiring renewable energy operators to pay municipalities a fixed share of their revenues unless they reach a different agreement with the municipality.

He said that the sector’s development also requires specific, clear rules for building renewable energy facilities, especially wind farms, in forests, as well as transparent access to state-owned forest land. „The new law on accelerating renewables is sometimes wrongly understood as a law on acceleration areas, but that interpretation is inaccurate. Focusing only on a few per cent of Czechia’s territory would slow energy development,“ Chalupa added.

„This is the last of the major legislative changes through which we have been working intensively in recent years to simplify and streamline the permitting process, so that we can ensure faster renewable energy development and meet the state’s strategic objectives. We are now further adjusting capacity thresholds for public interest status, licensing and building permits,“ said René Neděla, director general of the energy section at the Ministry of Industry and Trade.

According to Radim Misiaček, who coordinates the preparation of acceleration areas at the Ministry of the Environment, the draft law addresses the acceleration of construction throughout the country. „It is certainly not the case that renewable energy construction will be automatically permitted in acceleration areas and banned outside them. The areas will simply indicate where the public interest in building renewable energy facilities does not come into major conflict with other significant public interests, such as nature conservation, the protection of cultural monuments, national security and defence, and similar concerns,“ Misiaček added.

Renewable energy development in the Czech Republic is currently being driven mainly by household solar power plants. Last year, 82.799 new solar power plants were connected in the country, but the pace of new installations has already slowed this year. Czechia is particularly lagging behind in the construction of large solar parks. Wind power development is also slow, with just five wind farms commissioned so far this year.