However, after the changes to the law came into force, they caused more questions than answers, says Viktorija Varnaitė, senior lawyer at law firm COBALT. It reveals why and what problems are caused by the accelerated changes in the laws for the development of green energy.
According to the lawyer, one of the most awaited changes of the “Breakthrough Package” is the waiver of the requirement to include the construction of renewable energy resource facilities in territorial planning documents. Before the entry into force of the “Breakthrough Package”, such objects were allowed to be built only in those specific areas, which are provided for in the territorial planning documents. And while it would seem that the change should have helped, it still raises perhaps the most questions.
“Currently, the right to decide whether the construction of renewable energy facilities in a specific area is possible or not is left to the administration of the relevant municipality, which issues a permit for the installation and construction of power plants. Therefore, in many cases, energy developers become “hostages” of municipal administration officials and territorial planning documents approved decades ago, proving that solar and wind power plants can be built in areas where the construction of these objects is not provided for in the planning documents of specific territories,” explains V. .Varnaite.
There are also flawed cases when the municipal administration does not issue confirmation about the possibility of building power plants on private plots of land for the sole reason that their construction in the relevant area was not foreseen a decade ago or even earlier in the approved territorial plans, says the senior lawyer.
“Proving the truth is often necessary due to the fact that changing the approved territorial planning documents and their solutions is practically an impossible procedure due to the complex processes of changing, harmonizing and publicizing territorial planning documents.”
She adds that the situation is also complicated by the different opinions of the institutions regulating the processes.
“For example, the Ministry of Energy of the Republic of Lithuania has publicly announced that municipalities should not prohibit the construction of renewable energy facilities, based only on the fact that according to the valid territorial planning documents, the construction of power plants is not foreseen in those territories. And according to the State Territorial Planning Inspectorate, the construction of such objects is possible exclusively only in the areas specified in such documents.”
Who is right?
According to the lawyer, the rule is clear and specific – you should follow the procedures provided for in the legal acts.
“The currently valid legal acts do not provide that renewable energy structures can be built only in those territories where the construction of these objects is provided for in the territorial planning documents. Such a requirement was deliberately waived in order to encourage the use of a larger part of Lithuania’s territory for the development of green energy,” V. Varnaitė teaches.
True, according to the lawyer, it should be kept in mind that renewable energy facilities cannot be installed anywhere.
“The possibility of construction of these objects must be linked to whether their construction and operation do not violate the requirements of environmental protection, land use, national security and environmental impact legislation, prohibiting or limiting the construction of such objects in the relevant areas,” emphasizes COBALT’s senior lawyer.
Institutions should not interpret legal acts in such a way that it competes with the interpreted legal norm itself or sets new restrictions on its application that are not provided for in it, adds the lawyer.
Does this hinder the development of renewable energy sources in Lithuania?
“Although the development of energy from renewable resources is one of Lithuania’s most important strategic tasks, which is also provided for in the “National Energy Independence Strategy”, looking at the situation, the question may arise as to whether the current legal framework in Lithuania is really favorable for the development of energy from renewable resources,” he says. V. Varnaite.
Energy developers investing in the energy of renewable resources hope that the authorized authorities will act in accordance with laws and other legal acts – they will properly carry out the procedures provided for in the legislation, and the decisions made by the institutions will be justified and their content will meet the requirements of legal norms.
Therefore, according to the lawyer, it is important to ensure not only the legal regulation favorable to the development of energy from renewable resources, but also the proper application of existing legal acts.
“Applying restrictions not foreseen by legal norms to the construction of renewable energy facilities violates the green energy goals of Lithuania and the aspirations of the European Union member states regarding the increase of renewable energy production.
And this undoubtedly reduces the attraction of private investments for the development of green energy projects and, in general, raises the question of who will compensate lost investments to private individuals who, due to the unreasonable and inappropriate interpretation and application of laws by state public administration entities, are denied the opportunity to use their rights to develop energy from renewable sources,” says V. .Varnaite.
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2024-07-25 11:22:05
