Suitable areas, Pichetto sets minimum set and stakes in the Energy Decree
The regions will have 120 days from the decree to legislate on the issue, failing which the state will exercise substitutive powers
A minimum set of suitable areas - from ceased quarries and mines to closed landfills, including state property that is not subject to redevelopment programmes or water reservoirs in an environmentally dilapidated state, to name but a few - to overcome the impasse caused by administrative disputes following appeals by renewable energy operators and while waiting for the regions to legislate quickly. The Minister for the Environment and Energy Security, Gilberto Pichetto Fratin, is trying to close the circle around the game of suitable areas and has chosen the Energy Decree to set some limits to which the governors will have to adhere when identifying further areas suitable for accommodating green plants.
As Il Sole 24 Ore is able to preview some of the articles included in the decree and which, as mentioned above, establish an initial package of suitable areas, including those already identified by decree 199 of 2021 implementing the EU Red II directive: in addition to quarries and disused mines, also sites and plants owned by railways and railway infrastructure managers, as well as those of motorway concessionaires. And again, for photovoltaic plants, also areas inside factories and industrial plants subject to integrated environmental authorisation, as well as areas classified as agricultural within a perimeter where the points are no more than 350 metres from them. Further exceptions are also established for biomethane plants, which may also be built in areas adjacent to motorways within a distance of 300 metres.
Minimum set for offshore installations
The regions will have 120 days to identify other suitable areas in addition to those set out in the decree and, if they fail to meet this deadline, the state will exercise its substitutive powers. In defining further areas, the governors may not, however, provide general and abstract bans on the installation of green plants. The aim: to avoid too many obstacles emerging at the local level. In any case, the decree states that, in order to preserve the agricultural use of land, 'the agricultural areas that can be qualified as suitable areas at the regional level are not less than 0.8% of the utilised agricultural areas (Sau) nor more than 3% of them'.
In addition to this, the decree also provides for a minimum set of suitable areas for offshore installations that can be built, among other things, on disused oil platforms and on areas 2 nautical miles away from each platform, and also establishes a simplified procedure for installations that will be built in suitable areas. It will therefore be up to the GSE digital platform to provide support to the regions and autonomous provinces in the process of identifying suitable areas and acceleration zones.
"Cut-off" on connection requests
L’esponente di Forza Italia prova così a trovare una quadra attorno al dossier sfruttando il gancio del nuovo decreto energia. Che conterrà, come anticipato da questo giornale (si veda Il Sole 24 Ore del 24 luglio), anche la “tagliola” per fare decadere le richieste di connessione alla rete elettrica di nuovi impianti green non ancora autorizzati e che non abbiano ancora incassato il benestare di Terna, come pure un iter super celere per consentire il pieno decollo dei progetti di data center che potranno beneficiare di un procedimento unico la cui durata non potrà superare i dieci mesi. Nel provvedimento, ci saranno poi anche le misure per ridurre lo spread sul prezzo del gas e per rilanciare la gas release rimasta al palo. Il decreto è atteso in uno dei prossimi Cdm, mentre domani alla riunione convocata a Palazzo Chigi dovrebbe arrivare una ulteriore proroga per l’Arera in attesa che si trovi l’accordo sul nuovo collegio.
