Administrative procedures, regulations and codes
Article 15
1
Member States shall ensure that any national rules concerning the authorisation, certification and licensing procedures that are applied to plants and associated transmission and distribution networks for the production of electricity, heating or cooling from renewable sources, to the process of transformation of biomass into biofuels, bioliquids, biomass fuels or other energy products, and to renewable liquid and gaseous transport fuels of non-biological origin are proportionate and necessary and contribute to the implementation of the energy efficiency first principle.
Member States shall, in particular, take the appropriate steps to ensure that:
a
administrative procedures are streamlined and expedited at the appropriate administrative level and predictable timeframes are established for the procedures referred to in the first subparagraph;
b
rules concerning authorisation, certification and licensing are objective, transparent and proportionate, do not discriminate between applicants and take fully into account the particularities of individual renewable energy technologies;
c
administrative charges paid by consumers, planners, architects, builders and equipment and system installers and suppliers are transparent and cost-related; and
d
simplified and less burdensome authorisation procedures, including a simple-notification procedure, are established for decentralised devices, and for producing and storing energy from renewable sources.
2
Member States shall clearly define any technical specifications which are to be met by renewable energy equipment and systems in order to benefit from support schemes. Where European standards exist, including eco-labels, energy labels and other technical reference systems established by the European standardisation bodies, such technical specifications shall be expressed in terms of those standards. Such technical specifications shall not prescribe where the equipment and systems are to be certified and shall not impede the proper functioning of the internal market.
3
Member States shall ensure that their competent authorities at national, regional and local level include provisions for the integration and deployment of renewable energy, including for renewables self-consumption and renewable energy communities, and the use of unavoidable waste heat and cold when planning, including early spatial planning, designing, building and renovating urban infrastructure, industrial, commercial or residential areas and energy infrastructure, including electricity, district heating and cooling, natural gas and alternative fuel networks. Member States shall, in particular, encourage local and regional administrative bodies to include heating and cooling from renewable sources in the planning of city infrastructure where appropriate, and to consult the network operators to reflect the impact of energy efficiency and demand response programs as well as specific provisions on renewables self-consumption and renewable energy communities, on the infrastructure development plans of the operators.
4
Member States shall introduce appropriate measures in their building regulations and codes in order to increase the share of all kinds of energy from renewable sources in the building sector.
In establishing such measures or in their support schemes, Member States may take into account, where applicable, national measures relating to substantial increases in renewables self-consumption, in local energy storage and in energy efficiency, relating to cogeneration and relating to passive, low-energy or zero-energy buildings.
Member States shall, in their building regulations and codes or by other means with equivalent effect, require the use of minimum levels of energy from renewable sources in new buildings and in existing buildings that are subject to major renovation in so far as technically, functionally and economically feasible, and reflecting the results of the cost-optimal calculation carried out pursuant to Article 5(2) of Directive 2010/31/EU, and in so far as this does not negatively affect indoor air quality. Member States shall permit those minimum levels to be fulfilled, inter alia, through efficient district heating and cooling using a significant share of renewable energy and waste heat and cold.
The requirements laid down in the first subparagraph shall apply to the armed forces only to the extent that its application does not cause any conflict with the nature and primary aim of the activities of the armed forces and with the exception of material used exclusively for military purposes.
5
Member States shall ensure that new public buildings, and existing public buildings that are subject to major renovation, at national, regional and local level, fulfil an exemplary role in the context of this Directive from 1 January 2012. Member States may, inter alia, allow that obligation to be fulfilled by complying with nearly zero-energy building provisions as required in Directive 2010/31/EU, or by providing for the roofs of public or mixed private-public buildings to be used by third parties for installations that produce energy from renewable sources.
6
With respect to their building regulations and codes, Member States shall promote the use of renewable heating and cooling systems and equipment that achieve a significant reduction of energy consumption. To that end, Member States shall use energy or eco-labels or other appropriate certificates or standards developed at national or Union level, where these exist, and ensure the provision of adequate information and advice on renewable, highly energy efficient alternatives as well as eventual financial instruments and incentives available in the case of replacement, with a view to promoting an increased replacement rate of old heating systems and an increased switch to solutions based on renewable energy in accordance with Directive 2010/31/EU.
7
Member States shall carry out an assessment of their potential of energy from renewable sources and of the use of waste heat and cold in the heating and cooling sector. That assessment shall, where appropriate, include spatial analysis of areas suitable for low-ecological-risk deployment and the potential for small-scale household projects and shall be included in the second comprehensive assessment required pursuant to Article 14(1) of Directive 2012/27/EU for the first time by 31 December 2020 and in the subsequent updates of the comprehensive assessments.
8
Member States shall assess the regulatory and administrative barriers to long-term renewables power purchase agreements, and shall remove unjustified barriers to, and facilitate the uptake of, such agreements. Member States shall ensure that those agreements are not subject to disproportionate or discriminatory procedures or charges.
Member States shall describe policies and measures facilitating the uptake of renewables power purchase agreements in their integrated national energy and climate plans and progress reports pursuant to Regulation (EU) 2018/1999.