Photovoltaic news and pv jobs

Red tape rules

10. September 2010 By:  Anonymous

How stupid bureaucracy jeopardizes growth, jobs and the planet.

In a side event to the EU PVSEC, some industry participants were treated to a little shop of horrors: an overview of the red tape that currently strangles PV permitting in various countries in Europe.

Some of the examples would be hilarious if they weren’t so serious: a noise impact study for solar panels? Some authorities want to know - seriously! Italy’s “autorizzazione unica”, or single authorization, designed as a one-stop shop for project approvals? It involves 33 authorities and is a complete mess. A church within 50 meters of a project planned in France? Don’t even get the Supreme Architectural Authority started… You might as well ask permission to paint your roof pink.

The ambitious PV Legal project initiated by the European Photovoltaic Industry Association a year ago to catalogue all the bureaucratic hurdles to the growth of solar power in Europe is painful reading for anyone in the industry. But it ought also to be painful reading for anyone in government. That’s because all that red tape COSTS MONEY. Who pays the price? You, of course! Initially via the feed-in tariff, but ultimately through their electric bills. Someone has to pay for all that inefficiency, and it certainly isn’t governments.

The cost is also reflected in lost growth and jobs, both of which are in short supply in most countries in Europe these days, and often - maybe there’s even a connection? - in the countries with the most red tape. Greece, one of the sunniest places on the planet, expects less than 100 MW in systems to be connected to the grid this year - a figure Bavaria exceeds every day before breakfast.

“Cutting red tape cuts the cost of projects,” said Thomas Chrometzka, head of international affairs for the German solar industry association BSW.

Some regulations are serious, of course. It’s arguably legitimate for an airport to want to know if PV panels will blind pilots coming in to land. (Studies show that PV panels cause no more reflection than car windows in the parking lot). And environmental impact assessments for large projects are probably unavoidable.
But a ban on residential PV installations on non-grid-connected Greek islands? Please… Or the same country’s new requirement that project developers get a certificate to prove that they are exempt from the need for environmental impact assessments for small projects? The law says such projects are exempt. But the law’s not enough. You need a piece of paper to prove it.

A ray of hope may come from Brussels. The EU’s 2020 climate and renewable energy goals are binding upon EU member-states. If the National Action Plans, which governments are currently in the process of submitting to the EU are not convincing, the EU can demand remedial action. The evidence suggests that the EU will have its hands full.