Moratorium on access and connection permits for renewables approved because of Covid-19
The Royal Decree Law 11/2020 extends in two months from the end of the state of alarm for the Coronavirus sanitary crisis the period of validity of the access and connection permits for the electrical networks of the renewable projects.
In 2013, the Electricity Sector Act established that the connection points for the electricity grids of renewable projects granted before that year would expire at the end of 2018. However, an extension was given until 31 March 2020 to facilitate the penetration of renewables following the Government’s auctions in 2017.
The Official State Gazette (BOE) no. 91 of April 1st published Royal Decree Law 11/2020 adopting urgent complementary measures in the social and economic field to deal with Covid-19, which includes modifications in relation to the deadlines for access and connection of renewable projects.
The promoters of the new renewable generation plants were to have obtained the mandatory operating permit for the facility by March 31st. Otherwise, their access and connection permits would have expired.
“This deadline has been altered by the suspension of the deadlines established in Royal Decree 463/2020, of March 14th, which, in turn, provides for the resumption of the calculation of the deadlines once the state of alarm has ended. However, in order to provide legal certainty both to the promoters of electricity generation projects who hold these permits, on which a large number of essential investments depend for the fulfilment of the objectives of penetration of new renewable energies, and to the managers of the electricity networks responsible for granting the aforementioned access and connection permits, an additional period of validity of these permits of two months is provided for, counted from the end of the state of alarm, so that the affected parties have sufficient time to readapt to the new situation”, states the BOE.
