Policy Brief: Extraordinary compliance procedure regarding deregulation measures to accelerate the deployment of renewable energy

CONCLUSIONS FROM CIPRA’S PERSPECTIVE

These conclusions serve as proposals for statements on draft legislation for national implementation measures and/or for the designation of acceleration areas. Ideally, the individual points should be supplemented with additional information on regional characteristics regarding environmental sensitivity. For the implementation of RED III in accordance with the Alpine Convention, CIPRA recommends that the contracting parties that are also EU Member States exercise the discretion granted by RED III, considering the provisions of the Alpine Convention and its protocols.

• No Renewable Acceleration Areas (RAAs) should be designated in protected areas (cf. Art. 11 Nature Conservation Protocol) or in wetlands and moors (cf. Art. 9
  Soil Protection Protocol) in accordance to Art 15c (1) (a) para. ii) RED III.
• The application of overriding public interest within the meaning of Article 16f RED III shall be excluded for environmental sensitive areas that are important for
  biodiversity and habitat connectivity. This applies in particular to nature and landscape protection areas under national and international law (cf. Art 11 Nature Conservation Protocol).
• When weighing up interests, the protection of the environment and the landscape must be considered in accordance with the objectives of the Alpine Convention. This means that renewable energy projects must not be given absolute and automatic priority. It must be ensured that a project to be approved does not cause any incompatible environmental or landscape damage.
• The construction of new and large hydropower plants and any significant changes must be subject to an environmental impact assessment in accordance with the Alpine Convention (see Art. 2(2) in conjunction with Art. 12 and Art. 7 of the Energy Protocol). The ecological functionality of watercourses and the integrity of
  landscapes must be ensured through appropriate measures. An efficient assessment requires documentation of the project and the site, including the environment and the potential impacts on it. In addition, public participation within the meaning of the Aarhus Convention must be taken into account.
  Due to the high degree of hydropower development in the Alpine region and the generally poor condition of watercourses, hydropower should be ex cluded from being of overriding public interest (Art. 16f RED III) and no RAAs should be designated for hydropower.
• Qualitative compatibility in terms of soil protection and quantitative compatibility in terms of land use must be ensured. To take account of the scarcity of available space in the Alps, preference should be given to projects on urbanised and sealed areas (cf. Art 7 (3) Soil Conservation Protocol).
• To comply with the objectives of the Alpine Convention and its protocols, it is strongly advised not to exclude screening for wind power and photovoltaics in accordance with Article 16a(5) RED III. Refraining from screening within the meaning of RED III also entails legal uncertainty, as it is unclear whether an SEA would
  even satisfy the environmental impact assessment requirements of the Alpine Convention.
• The promotion of renewable energy plants including energy infrastructure and storage that are likely to cause significant damage to the environment and landscape or have an impact on protected areas shall be avoided.