3. Competing land uses. Furthermore, RES often must compete for available land with alternative uses, such as agriculture and biomass. In Italy, for example, up to 85 percent of available land would be needed to install the 63 GW of solar PV 23 necessary to meet the 2040 additions. 24 Yet a deployment of RES on that huge scale is unlikely, particularly since Italy limits the use of cropland for RES. 4. Complex and nonuniform regulations. Across the European Union, permitting is a complex process that involves multiple authorities. In Italy, for example, more than 30 bodies could be involved. 25 Only a few countries or areas have designated renewable-energy land eligible for fast-track permitting or adopted a fast-track permitting process for repowering projects. As a result, more than 70 GW of onshore wind that reaches its end of life before 2030 must go through the full complex permitting process. 5. Varying permitting capabilities among authorities, developers, and transmission system operators. Furthermore, permitting authorities frequently lack the resources, such as digital tools, to track permitting status. Among both developers and transmission system operators, the failure to adopt best practices, such as stakeholder engagement and project planning, slows down the process. Upgrading to best-in-class tools and processes could reduce permitting times by 20 to 30 percent. 6. Societal considerations. Opposition to renewables projects may lead to lawsuits, which can increase permitting time significantly—for example, by around 40 percent in Germany. Some evidence suggests that concerns about renewables projects can be influenced once they become operational. In Germany, for instance, a recent survey showed that more
than 70 percent of the people in communities without existing onshore wind have concerns over permitting but that 78 percent of those with wind plants in their communities do not have a problem with this technology. Key priorities To help ensure that permitting delays and limited land availability do not become constraints on the energy transition, business leaders and policy makers could weigh six key priorities: 1. Considering targets for renewables at the national and regional levels to help with land allocation. Policy makers could address the lack of available land by considering rules, such as those in Germany, that require each state to designate sufficient land for onshore wind to match minimum state-specific targets. If the targets are not met, German law makes it possible to fill the gap by preventing the authorities from denying permits for onshore wind in areas that do not comply with local distance regulations. 2. Reviewing regulations to safeguard and increase access to land. Reconsideration of the regulations governing the allowable distance between settlements and onshore wind installations could help increase the area suitable for wind power generation. Relaxing the distance-to-settlement rules in Bavaria, for example, to match those of Lower Saxony could increase the amount of land suitable for developing renewables 80-fold and permit the generation of 100 GW of additional capacity. Public bodies could attract investment by identifying areas suitable and available for developing renewables and prioritizing these to accelerate permitting and interconnections.
3. Maximizing the repowering of existing installations to improve land productivity.
23 Assuming that 75 percent of solar PV will be ground mounted. 24 German RES targets were communicated as part of the German Easter legislative package (May 2022); Italian RES targets are aligned with the Next Generation EU (NGEU) program emission reduction target (about 55 percent of greenhouse-gas emissions by 2030 compared with 1990). The official targets of national integrated energy and climate plans have not been updated since 2019. 25 Ministero Dell’Ambiente e della Sicurezza Energetica, Elettricità futura, Gestore Servizi Energetici.
Accelerating the journey to net zero
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