Reduction of Bureaucratic Barriers for Successful PV Deployment in the EU

PV LEGAL: Some progress, but barriers remain

By Marie Latour, Senior National Policy Advisor

One year after the deadline for transposing the RES Directive, with which the EU aims to reach 20% of renewable energy sources (RES) by 2020, how well have Member States done in reducing bureaucratic barriers to the development of solar photovoltaic (PV) power?  PV LEGAL, a two-and-a-half-year European initiative, answers this question in a new report looking at 12 key countries.

The results are decidedly mixed. Some countries have made definite improvements. For example, developing a residential system is much quicker in France, Greece, Germany, the Netherlands and Portugal. Online registration systems, less stringent permitting requirements, and one-stop-shop systems have helped reduce the time required to process requests.

But elsewhere in Europe the picture is not as bright. In Spain, thanks to overly burdensome bureaucracy, it takes an incredible 89 weeks to develop a commercial rooftop system. Complying with these regulations and grid connection processes represents almost half the development cost of a project. The same is true in Bulgaria and in the United Kingdom.

Grid connection difficulties remain the greatest bottleneck to deploy easily photovoltaic systems. Lengthy procedures, unclear interpretation of rules or excessive costs are some of the main barriers encountered in most of the markets studied in the project.

The PV LEGAL project is finalising at the end of February but this is not the end of the story. In May 2012 a new project called “PV GRID” will begin a deep analysis of PV grid integration. It will continue the work started by PV LEGAL, and include more actors such as distribution system operators.
 
Download the final PV LEGAL report here.

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The objective of the project is to overcome market barriers for PV on the level of regulatory frameworks. The project aims at enhancing PV legal-administrative procedures by involving its crucial administrative actors in 12 EU countries: Bulgaria, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Poland, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain, The Netherlands and United Kingdom.

Connecting a solar power system in Europe can take between less than a month to over several years. Since photovoltaic (PV) is considered one of the most important energy technologies for future power generation, a European project consortium is aiming to facilitate the deployment of this technology by addressing administrative burdens. The recently kicked-off PV LEGAL project aims to overcome regulatory market barriers for PV and in the end reduce the lead-time to connect a PV system to the electricity grid. For the coming 30 months, 15 EU PV industry partners, will look in depth at improving such conditions in 12 EU Member States.

The first step for the PV LEGAL project consortium is to establish a comprehensive database to analyse the bureaucratic efforts that need to be tackled by investors in PV systems in 12 selected EU member states. The database will provide stakeholders, policymakers and grid operators with a systematic analysis of practical experiences with regulatory barriers and grid connection issues that are encompassed by investors in PV systems. The removal of such barriers is considered key by both the industry as well as the European Union, which supports the endeavour under the Intelligent Energy Europe Programme.

Once the database is established, policy makers and grid operators in the main European PV markets will be addressed by means of advisory papers as well as national forums (conferences) and ad-hoc workshops to provide and discuss recommendations for the improvement and simplification of administrative burdens.  

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The project is split into several key-activities: 

• The set-up and regular update of a centralised database comparing the legal-administrative procedures for PV installations in the 12 countries;
• Developing advisory papers with concrete recommendations for improvement of the national PV legal-administrative frameworks;
• Organisation of national and regional forums;
• Organisation of legal-administrative workshops;
• Publication of 2 status reports at the beginning and end of the project, assessing the status-quo and the evolution of PV legal-administrative frameworks;
• A very wide dissemination campaign will be organised throughout the project towards the relevant target audiences:
  o Public authorities and policy makers at European, national and regional levels;
  o Commercial actors from the PV industry;
  o Grid operators.

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• Coordinator: BSW-Solar (DE)
• Partners:
  o Eclareon
  o EPIA
  o ASIF (ES)
  o Assosolare (IT)
  o ENERPLAN (FR)
  o SER (FR)
  o HELAPCO (EL)
  o PTPV (PL)
  o Slovenian Photovoltaic Industry Association – ZSFI (SI)
  o Renewable Energy Association – REA (UK)
• Subcontractors:
  o South East European Renewable Energy Industry Association (BG)
  o Czech Photovoltaic Industry Association (CZ)
  o Holland Solar (NL)
  o APESF (PT)

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July 2009 to February 2012.

EPIA’s main role in this project is the coordination of the dissemination activities. In particular EPIA has set-up a website where the PV Legal database is located and freely accessible.
  

With the support of:

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If you want to know more about the project, please contact:
Marie Latour, EPIA
Phone: +32 2 400 10 13
Email: m.latour(at)epia.org