The Junta de Castilla y León legislates to accelerate the deployment of renewables

DECREE-LAW 2/2022, of 23 June, adopting urgent measures to speed up the management of European funds and the promotion of economic activity in Castilla y León

On April 21, 2022, the Junta de Castilla y León prepared and approved a document consisting of a list of response initiatives, aimed at promoting in the short and medium term a series of measures to help establish a framework that, gradually, promotes recovery in the context of the crisis and its impact on inflation, a crisis that has been aggravated by the Russian military invasion of Ukraine.

Thus, in relation to this decree-law, we must cite as a precedent Decree-Law 4/2020, of 18 June, on the promotion and simplification of administrative activity for the promotion of productive reactivation in Castilla y León, through which measures were adopted aimed at simplifying procedures and ensuring proportionality in intervention regimes.

This Decree-Law, which, based on reasons of extraordinary and urgent need, establishes a long series of measures grouped into six blocks by reason of competence: finance and the autonomous public sector, commerce, housing and urban planning, environmental sustainability, natural heritage and forest policy, and social services.

More specifically, for the field of renewable energy, in article 13 of this decree law, criteria are established for the authorization of renewable energy generation projects:

1. Renewable energy generation facilities consisting of wind farms and their auxiliary infrastructures shall not be authorized on rustic land in:

a. The land included in the Network of Protected Natural Areas defined in article 49 of Law 4/2015, of March 24, on the Natural Heritage of Castilla y León, except for protective mountains and those classified as public utility.

b. Land included in critical areas of protected species with a conservation or recovery plan.

c. Land located less than 500 meters from an asset of cultural interest.

d. Land located less than 1,000 meters from urban centers, this distance being measured from the urban land limit, or failing that from the perimeter of the urban center, to the outer perimeter of the plot where the project is intended to be located. The same distance will be respected from educational centers, health or social health care centers and other public service facilities located on rustic land.

and. Land on which irrigable areas have been developed, either through the transformation of dry land to irrigated land, or through the modernization of irrigation systems.

2. Renewable energy generation facilities consisting of photovoltaic plants and their auxiliary infrastructures shall not be authorized in:

a. The land included in the Network of Protected Natural Areas defined in article 49 of Law 4/2015, of March 24, on the Natural Heritage of Castilla y León, except for mountains classified as public utility that support authorized agricultural uses.

b. Land included in critical areas of protected species with a conservation or recovery plan.

c. Wooded mountains, regardless of their ownership.

d. The land located less than 500 meters from an asset of cultural interest

and. Land located less than 500 meters from urban centers, this distance being measured from the urban land limit, or failing that from the perimeter of the urban center, to the outer perimeter of the plot where the project is intended to be located. The same distance will be respected from educational centers, health or social health care centers and other public service facilities located on rustic land.

f. Land on which irrigable areas have been developed, either through the transformation of dryland to irrigated land, or through the modernization of irrigation systems.

3. The following are excluded from the provisions of sections 1 and 2 of this article:

a. The energy evacuation lines produced by wind farms and photovoltaic plants that cross the above-mentioned land, which will generally be underground, are not prohibited in the applicable environmental planning instruments and have been specifically environmentally evaluated.

b. Renewable energy generation facilities for self-consumption with a maximum power of 5 MW, whose authorization will follow the procedure established in each case.

Who can benefit from the expedited procedure?

This procedure will apply only to the projects referred to in paragraphs i) and j) of Group 3 of Annex I and sections g) and i) of Group 4 of Annex II of Law 21/2013, of December 9, on Environmental Assessment, which will be subject to a procedure for determining environmental conditions provided that they jointly meet the requirements indicated below:

a) Connection: Projects that have air evacuation lines not included in group 3, section g) of Annex I of Law 21/2013, of December 9.

b) Size:

− Wind projects with installed capacity equal to or less than 50 MW.

− Photovoltaic solar energy projects with installed capacity equal to or less than 50 MW.

c) Location (without prejudice to those required by Article 12): Projects that, not located on land of the Natura 2000 Network, at the date of submission of the authorization request are located entirely in areas of low and moderate sensitivity according to the “Environmental Zoning for the Implementation of Renewable Energies”, prepared by the Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge.

In addition, in the case of wind farms and their auxiliary facilities, they will not be located on land considered to be of very high environmental sensitivity for rock gliding birds (golden eagle, stray eagle, griffon vulture, vulture, bearded vultures) and forest gliders (imperial eagle, golden kite, black vulture and black stork).

And in the case of photovoltaic plants and their auxiliary infrastructures, they will not be located on land considered to be of very high environmental sensitivity for steppe birds (bustard, sison, Iberian gangue, Ganga Ortega, Ricotí lark, caravanna and primilla kestrel).

Areas of very high sensitivity for steppe and glider birds will be identified and made public by the Department responsible for environmental matters, based on the best available knowledge, and will be periodically reviewed in the light of accumulated experience and the conservation status of the values subject to protection.

3. This procedure will apply to projects for which the developers submit the request for administrative authorization, as provided for in article 53 of Law 24/2013, of December 26, on the Electricity Sector, to the substantive body before December 31, 2024.

4. Projects that meet these requirements will not be subject to environmental assessment under the terms regulated in Law 21/2013, of December 9, to the extent that the environmental condition report regulated in the following article concludes. However, the terms used in this article shall be understood in accordance with the definitions set out in article 5 of Law 21/2013, of December 9.

What is the procedure?

Article 15. Simplified procedure for determining environmental impact for renewable energy projects.

1. The procedure for determining environmental conditions shall be carried out in accordance with the following procedures:

a) The sponsor must submit the following documentation to the substantive body for authorization:

1st. Request for determination of environmental impact for renewable energy projects, which must meet the general requirements set out in Law 39/2015, of October 1, on the Common Administrative Procedure of Public Administrations.

2nd. Project consisting of the preliminary draft provided for in article 53.1 (a) of Law 24/2013, of December 26.

3rd. Environmental impact study with the contents provided for in articles 5.3.c) and 35 and in Annex VI of Law 21/2013, of December 9.

4th. Executive summary that quantifies the accredited impacts on the main environmental factors, which must synthetically address the main environmental effects of the project taking into account the provisions of article 12, and based on the following criteria:

− Affection on the Natura 2000 Network, protected areas and their peripheral protection areas and habitats of community interest.

− Affection to biodiversity, in particular to catalogued protected or threatened species.

− Affection due to discharges to public channels.

− Condition due to waste generation.

− Affection due to the use of natural resources.

− Affection to cultural heritage.

− Socio-economic impact on the territory.

− Synergistic conditions with other nearby projects, which evacuate at the same node, and at least those located less than 10 km away when it comes to wind farms, less than 5 km when it comes to photovoltaic plants and less than 2 km away when it comes to power lines.

b) If the documentation is complete, the substantive body will send it to the environmental body within 10 days. If it is not complete, after a remedy has been processed in accordance with article 68.1 of Law 39/2015, of October 1, the substantive body will consider the sponsor to have withdrawn.

c) The environmental body will analyze whether the project is expected to produce significant adverse effects on the environment, and will prepare a proposal for a report to determine the environmental condition, which it will send to the body responsible for natural heritage, which will have a period of ten days to make comments. After this period has elapsed, the lack of response will be considered as acceptance of the content of the proposed report for the purpose of continuing the proceedings.

d) In any case, the environmental authority shall formulate the report determining the environmental condition within a maximum period of two months from the receipt of the documentation. This report will determine if the project can continue with the processing of the authorization procedure because there are no significant adverse effects on the environment that require its submission to an environmental assessment procedure or if, on the contrary, it must undergo such a procedure in accordance with the provisions of Law 21/2013, of December 9. The report may also determine the obligation to subject the authorization of the project to appropriate conditions to mitigate or compensate for its possible environmental effects, as well as to conditions related to the monitoring and monitoring plan of the project. The project cannot be subject to construction or operation authorization if these conditions are not respected.

e) The environmental condition determination report will be published on the environmental body's website and notified to the sponsor and substantive body within a maximum period of ten days.

2. The environmental damage determination report will cease to be valid and will cease to have effect if the project is not authorized within two years of notification to the developer. However, in the case of projects included in the scope of application of Article 1 of Royal Decree-Law 23/2020, of 23 June, which approves measures in the field of energy and other areas for economic reactivation, if the report determines that the project can continue with the processing of the authorization procedure because there are no significant adverse effects on the environment, it will have the term of validity and will have the effects of complying with the administrative milestones referred to in its sections 1 (a) 2 and 1 .b) 2nd.

3. The report determining the environmental condition will not be the subject of any appeal, without prejudice to those who, if appropriate, proceed through administrative and judicial channels in the face of the act of authorization of the project.

The team of Environmental IdeasIn Castilla y León we can help you streamline environmental procedures. Do not hesitate to contact us.