Administrative authorization process

• Planning Act
• Building Code
• EIA Act

The length and level of detail of the administrative authorization process vary according to the technologies and their size. Overall, the local municipalities are the competent authority for administrative authorization as they are in charge of the granting the relevant permits. An exception here is the Ministry of Defence, which plays a role in the site selection for wind energy developments.
Wind energy: Following administrative steps and allowances have to be obtained:
• A local government has to prepare a designated spatial plan. During the planning process and preparation of the detailed spatial plan, public consultation is mandatory.
• In case a municipality agrees to initiate the process of preparing a local government designed spatial plan, then thorough environmental surveys are carried out (including also noise assessments). It is necessary to carry out an EIA as well as the strategic environmental assessment (art 95. Planning Act). In case the preparation of the local government designed spatial plan can be skipped (where the municipality’s comprehensive plan already specifies location for the development of wind energy), strategic environmental assessment is only needed if the plan is presumed to have an impact on Natura 2000 areas (art. 124 Planning Act).
• The local municipality has to inform the public about the initiated detailed spatial plan and proposes to discuss the plan publicly before adopting it. For the erection and operation of onshore wind turbines or wind farms, applying for a building permit and a use and occupancy permit is needed. Both of these are issued by the municipality as well (art. 38 Building Code). The municipality also decides on the need to initiate the assessment of environmental impact (art. 42 Building Code).
Solar energy: With regards to solar energy, the administrative authorization process falls into one of the three varying levels of difficulty, depending on the location of the installation. The capacity of the installation does not make any difference.
1. Rooftop PV projects. In these cases, the PV installation is administratively considered part of the building’s technical system. A building permit from the municipality is required.
2. PV installation on the same property with a building. In that case, the interpretation is left to the discretion of the municipality for processing the administrative authorization. Some classify the PV installation as part of the building’s technical system (in that case, the same procedure as in (1) for rooftop PV applies). However, many municipalities classify in that case the PV installation as an electricity generation facility. In that case, a detailed spatial plan is required before the building permit can be issued.
3. PV installation on a separate property than a building. In terms of planning, in that case, the PV installation is considered a full electricity generation facility. That means that a detailed spatial plan is required, often also an EIA as well as public consultations. If all these are successfully done, a developer can apply for building and use and occupancy permits.
For the latter two, in case a detailed spatial plan is needed, then the municipality has to inform the public about the initiated detailed spatial plan. When the planning solution is ready, the municipality proposes to discuss the plan publicly before adopting it. The final solution of the detailed plan is established (confirmed) by the municipal council.
Biomass: A detailed spatial plan is needed for the construction of a biomass plant for electricity generation, as well as an EIA. Following this, a developer needs to apply for a building permit, followed by the use and occupancy permit as outlined in the Building Code (art. 38, 42, 50 Building Code). The competent authority for all these procedures is the municipality.

• Local municipalities
• Ministry of Defence