EU Plans To Accelerate Solar Permission Through Emergency Regulations

On November 9, the European Commission proposed a temporary emergency regulation to accelerate the deployment of renewable energy to deal with the impact of the energy crisis and the Russia-Ukraine war. Scheduled to last for one year, the proposal will remove administrative red tape around permitting and deployment, allowing renewable energy sources to be fast-tracked into operation.

According to the proposal, solar projects deployed in artificial buildings (buildings, car parks, transportation infrastructure, sheds), as well as co-located storage systems and grid connections will have a maximum deadline of one month for permitting under the proposal. Furthermore, the above types of devices and solar power plants with a capacity of less than 50kW will be exempted from certain environmental assessments. In addition, solar energy, heat pumps and clean energy power plants will be regarded as the "overriding public interest", so that they can benefit from the new regulation.

Kadri Simson, EU energy commissioner, said: "The EU is accelerating the deployment of renewable energy, and it is expected that the new installed capacity this year will reach a record of 50GW. However, in order to effectively cope with high energy prices, ensure energy independence and achieve climate goals, the deployment speed needs to be further accelerated." This emergency proposal was put forward after the European Union raised its solar energy target to 600GW by 2030. The European Commission said that in order to achieve the 2030 target, the annual deployment needs to be increased to 60GW.

In May 2022, the European Commission raised its renewable energy target under the "Fit for 55" (FF55) from 40% to 45% by 2030. According to FF55, the target?aims to achieve 420GW AC/525GW DC solar power installation by 2030, which has been increased to 600GW AC/750GW DC, an increase of 43%.

According to the data reported by the European Photovoltaic Industry Association (SolarPower Europe), EU added about 25.9GW of new PV installed capacity in 2021, with a year-on-year growth of 34%, breaking the record of 21.4GW in a decade. According to the export data of Chinese customs, Europe imported 40.9GW of PV modules from Chinese PV manufacturers?in 2021, with a year-on-year growth of 54%. From January to May this year, the import volume was 34GW, with a year-on-year growth of 129%. We expect that EU will import 75-85GW of PV modules in 2022, which will reach a new high.