Renewable energy – No PUZ for 50 ha projects
11 Ianuarie 2023 • Investitii
Source: https://bbw.law/2023/02/08/legal-news-insights-january-2023/
On 10 January 2023, a new amendment to Law 50/1991 on constructions (Law 21/2023) was published with a significant impact on renewable energy projects. Thus, according to this amendment, the obligation to obtain PUZ (urban zoning plan) for the development of renewable energy projects located on agricultural land located outside the built-up area, with a maximum surface of 50 ha, has been abolished.
Thus the Law no. 21/2023 stipulates that building/demolition permits may be issued without the prior preparation, approval and approval of the urban planning documentation (including PUZ) for specific investments in the production of electricity from renewable sources (capacities for the production of solar energy, wind energy, energy from biomass, bioliquids and biogas, electricity storage units, transformer stations or other similar systems), developed on agricultural land located outside the built-up area, with a maximum surface of 50 ha.
The exception will apply only to agricultural land belonging to quality classes III, IV and V and having the category of arable land, pasture, vineyards and orchards, as well as those with land improvement works.
However, it is not clear whether it is not yet necessary to approve a PUZ in order to obtain approval for certain urban planning parameters required for the constructions in question (POT – percentage of land occupation, CUT – land use index, height, etc.).
Another aspect that needs to be clarified is whether the 50 ha limit only refers to the area exclusively impacted (the area that is permanently/temporarily withdrawn from agricultural use and use for the constructions) or also to the area that will remain in agricultural use (the total area of the project).
Romania to expedite permitting process for solar on agricultural land
The Romanian president has passed a new law to shorten the permitting process for solar projects built on less than 50 hectares of agricultural land.
Romania’s president has promulgated a new law to substantially simplify the permitting process for the development of renewable energy projects on agricultural land.
The move follows the Romanian parliament's adoption of amendments to Land Law No. 18/1991 in June. The changes allow PV, wind, biomass, bioliquid, biogas, storage projects, and transformer stations to be built on plots of agricultural land that are less than 50 hectares in size.
Such land must fall under fertility classes III, IV, or V, with I denoting “very high fertility.” However, it remained unclear after the amendments if the development of small-scale projects still required a zonal urban plan (PUZ), which is one of the most time-consuming stages of the permitting process.
“The entire industry expected that the PUZ would no longer be required for such projects,” Mihaela Nyerges, Partner at law firm Nyerges & Partners told pv magazine. “However, despite the non-unified practice of the local authorities, the general interpretation was that PUZ was still mandatory. Such interpretation was based on the fact that, although not expressly required by the Land Law, PUZ continued to be a requirement for the issuance of the building permit according to the general construction and urbanism legislation.”
Now, the new law removes the PUZ requirement to develop renewable projects occupying less than 50 hectares of agricultural land, with fertility classes III, IV, or V. An amendment to Constructions Law No. 50/1991 also establishes that such projects do not need to present urbanism documentation to be developed. Once the law goes into effect, the only permitting requirements for the aforementioned projects will be building permits and approvals to remove specified land from the agricultural circuit.
“This amendment is a huge breakthrough, as it may reduce the duration of the development process by up to nine months,” said Nyerges.
The new law and respective amendments do not apply to renewable projects exceeding 50 hectares of land, or land with fertility classes I or II.
“Nevertheless, this PUZ process is still blocked at the level of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, which refuses to issue its mandatory PUZ endorsement,” said Nyerges.
Romania has completely halted approvals for projects covering more than 50 hectares, according to Nyerges. The country might limit large-scale solar to projects covering less than 50 hectares. Nyerges estimates that such projects would probably not exceed 42 MW in size.
The new law will soon be published in Romania’s official gazette. It will go into effect within three days of publication.