Installation of Devices for Electricity Production from Renewable Energy Sources
There are suggestions that Slovenia lags behind comparable EU Member States in utilising solar and wind energy. It is also considered one of the poorer performers in the EU in terms of increasing the share of renewable energy sources in recent years (i.e. between 2010 and 2020). With the goal of decarbonisation in mind, the new Act on the siting of installations for the generation of electricity from renewable energy sources (“ZUNPEOVE”) introduces several changes, such as: (i) the establishment of priority areas for the placement of devices that produce electricity from renewable sources; (ii) changes regarding spatial planning and permits for facilities and structures for the use of solar and wind energy; (iii) so-called regulatory sandboxes; (iv) special regulations for legal relationships related to the installation of photovoltaic devices on co-owned and condominium properties, among many others.
These legislative changes also affect numerous other laws, particularly in the fields of spatial planning, roads, water, mining, agricultural land, forests, and environmental protection. The law justifies these interventions as being in the public interest; the law specifies that the planning, design, installation, and operation of photovoltaic and wind power devices and their related network infrastructure serve the public interest and the interests of public health and safety.
One of the major novelties of ZUNPEOVE is the designation of priority areas suitable for installing photovoltaic and wind power devices (referred to as “OVE”). The law distinguishes between (i) potential priority areas for OVE installation and (ii) prescribed priority areas for photovoltaic device installation. The government will determine the former in a thematic action program prepared by the ministry responsible for spatial planning in cooperation with the ministry responsible for energy.
In contrast to potential priority areas, which will need to be determined through the spatial planning processes, ZUNPEOVE already specifies some priority areas for installation of photovoltaic devices. These include:
- Roofs of buildings and paved parking areas on building plots in residential areas with a footprint of 1,000 m2 or more.
- Areas of road land, road structures, public road service stations, and public road service areas.
- Railway areas.
- Areas of electricity production facilities and distribution transformer stations extending up to 5 m from the edge of the outermost energy facility.
- Closed landfill areas.
- Certain abandoned and former opencast mining sites not filled with water.
- Designated existing inactive waste disposal sites and abandoned waste disposal sites.
Photovoltaic devices can be installed in all these prescribed areas regardless of the local energy concept.
The law not only promotes the installation of OVE but, in some instances, also mandates the installation of photovoltaic devices. The installation and operation of photovoltaic devices with minimum nominal power or surface area are mandatory for new paved parking areas and facilities with a floor area or roof area of 1,000 m2 or more, save where installation is not feasible or permissible due to location, sunlight exposure, cultural heritage protection, etc. The facility’s owner is responsible for the installation, operation, and removal of photovoltaic devices per this obligation. Although this obligation has already come into effect, it does not apply to facilities: with existing planning permission; where a construction documentation drafting contract is in place; or where a call to tender for those drafting services is active on the day of the entry into force of ZUNPEOVE (i.e., August 3, 2023).
The installation of photovoltaic devices will not only be mandatory for new buildings, additions, and reconstructions, but following a transitional period, it will also become mandatory on the roofs of existing facilities and paved parking areas with an area of 1,700 m2 or more. The government will lay down the details regarding the installation and operation of photovoltaic devices by way of secondary legislation, including the deadline for the obligation to install photovoltaic devices. This deadline must be no shorter than two years and no longer than ten years from the enactment of the secondary legislation.
ZUNPEOVE also impacts the provisions of the Environmental Protection Act (“ZVO-2”), particularly concerning the obligation to conduct ex ante assessments and environmental impact assessments. Standalone photovoltaic devices installed in an area not exceeding 4 hectares will not be subject to ex ante assessment procedure under ZVO-2.
Following the recommendations of the European Commission, ZUNPEOVE also introduces so-called regulatory sandboxes. Their purpose is to provide investors with a limited regulatory moratorium to allow for the trialling of innovative technologies in electricity production from renewable energy sources and energy storage. The government approves the regulatory sandbox at the investor’s request, which must provide a detailed description of the project and justify its compliance with the conditions for regulatory sandbox approval, including demonstrating that the proposed project is in the public interest (exceeding the weight of the regulations being exempted from by the regulatory sandbox) and that its implementation would not be contrary to EU regulations.
Due to the growing demand on electricity from the economy and the public, it is crucial to ensure adequate and sufficient areas for its production. For this purpose, the law removes certain restrictions and prohibitions that apply to certain types of land (e.g., agricultural land) that hinder the installation of OVE. In some instances, the law allows for the concurrent use / concurrent energy activity, i.e., the production of electricity from photovoltaic devices and wind power devices, even in agricultural and forest land areas, watercourse areas, mineral resources, landfills, and traffic areas. However, concurrent energy activity must not displace the predominant use of land (e.g., agricultural land must still predominantly serve agricultural activities rather than energy production).
In addition to the regulatory domino effect of ZUNPEOVE, which allows for concurrent energy activities, the law also impacts the provisions of the Property Code and the Housing Act, in particular the required majority for changing the use of common parts of a building or property in co-ownership for installing, operating, and maintaining photovoltaic devices.
Due to the extensive nature of the changes introduced by the new law, this article provides an overview of the key ones. We will closely monitor the adoption of the secondary legislation around the new law and their implementation.
Authors: Klavdija Kek, Attorney-at-Law, Eva Bardutzky, Law Student
