EU Crunches Permit Process for RE projects To Under One year To Speed Growth

The Ukraine-Russia conflict is bringing Europe to expedite renewable energy expansion in the region that will just enable the European Union to end its dependence on Russian gas and oil. In a fresh development, the European Commission may propose a new framework that will fasten the permitting system for renewable energy projects in the member countries.

The EU has been signaling that it will double the renewable production in the continent to ensure an end to their Russian fossil fuel dependence. As per reports, the EU document reads, “The permit-granting process for new projects located in renewables go-to areas shall not exceed one year.”

Recently, EU’s climate policy head Frans Timmermans had also stated that more ambitious targets are being developed for the EU for faster transition to renewable sources of energy. This is in line with phasing out the gas imports from Russia completely by 2027.

The European Commission has come out with its REPowerEU plan to realise the discussed objective well before the end of this decade. The REPpowerEU plan wants to expedite renewable energy development, increase electricity generation from renewable projects, produce more renewable gases and do away with gas which is mainly imported from Russia in heating and electricity production in Europe.

The European Commission will inform about the new details next week as to how the European Union can double the renewable growth and the proposal is expected to ask the EU countries to designate ‘go-to areas’ onshore or offshore that will have lowest environmental impact to develop renewable energy.

Recently, the European Commission was also analyzing if the Union can achieve a higher aim of having 45% of its energy coming from renewable sources by 2030.

In March, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen had urged Europe for quick expansion of renewable sources of power to achieve energy security and displace Russian gas dependency. “The quicker we switch to renewables and hydrogen, combined with more energy efficiency, the quicker we will be truly independent and master our energy system,” said von der Leyen.