Administrative authorization process

• DL 28/11
• DL 77/21
• DL 387/03
• DL 42/04
• L 241/90
• DM 19/05/2015
• DM 10/09/2010
• DL 152/06
• DL 62/08

Regions and autonomous provinces implement legislation with great flexibility, in accordance with state guidelines. The type and scope of the authorisation depends on the size and the selected location of the renewable energy system. Ground-mounted PV and onshore wind projects in Italy mostly undergo the Single Authorisation, the Single Regional Authorisation or the Single Environmental Permitting procedures. For small-scale rooftop PV systems, a Communication Procedure is mainly applied. Unless a powerplant is built in a restricted area, no further approvals need to be applied for with regard to the procedures mentioned below
Communication Procedure
The Communication Procedure (comunicazione di inizio lavori per attività in edilizia libera) is applied to small onshore wind, PV systems and other systems under the net-metering scheme (scambio sul posto) that are placed on existing buildings or surfaces not located in areas with environmental and landscape or historical heritage constrains.
The municipal technical office must receive a project design, signed by an authorised planner, which describes the technical characteristics of the project and its compliance with the applicable urban planning and building regulations. Once the permission has been granted, the construction can begin within a period of thirty days.
Declaration of Commencement of Certified Works
It can be applied to existing installations and changes to approved projects that need to implement changes regarding efficiency, design, or commercial modules. Applies only on works that do not lead to an increase of the area occupied by the installations works and that are not subject to an environmental and landscape impact assessment or to the acquisition of any other approval documents (DL 28/11). The project developer must submit the declaration accompanied by a project design signed by an authorised planner and the relevant project documents certifying compliance with the safety, anti-seismic and health and hygiene regulations to the to the municipality in paper or electronically.
Single Model for PV
The Single National Model for the Construction, Connection and Operation of Small Photovoltaic Systems is a simplified procedure for the approval of small rooftop PV systems that do not exceed 50 kW. (DM 19/05/2015, amended by Art. 30-33 DL 77/21). Other criteria are:
• they are realised at final consumers already equipped with active low-voltage tapping points
• their power does not exceed the power already available at the point of collection;
• the net-metering (scambio-sul-posto) subsidy is requested for the system in question;
• there are no other energy production systems at the same extraction point.
Before starting the installation work, the project developer sends the required form electronically to the grid operator. Within 20 working days, the grid operator checks the required amount of work to connect the installation.
If simple work is sufficient, the grid operator forwards the form electronically to the municipality. The municipality verifies the declarations made by the applicant (DM 19/05/2015).
If extensive work is required for the grid connection, the grid operator provides a cost estimate. Once the system is installed, the applicant fills out the “Modello Unico - Parte II “form and sends it to the grid operator, who forwards it to the municipality. The municipality verifies the declarations made by the applicant (DM 19/05/2015).
Simplified Authorisation Procedure
The Simplified Authorisation Procedure (procedura abilitativa semplificata - PAS) is applied to installations below the thresholds of 60 kW for onshore wind and 10 MW for PV (Tab. A DL 387/03, Art. 30-33 DL 77/21), which do not fall under the regulations of the Communication Procedure or the Single Model for PV procedure. For this type of authorisation, each Region can extend the scope of application to power plants up to 1 MW (DL 28/11).
The project developer must submit the request for authorisation along with the technical grid connection documents prepared by the grid operator (DL 28/11) to the competent authority at least 30 days prior to construction. The declaration of the project developer should also be accompanied by a detailed project design signed by an authorised planner, which provides proof of compatibility with approved planning regulations and building codes, as well as the compliance with the safety, health and hygiene regulations.
Following approval, the power plant must be constructed within 3 years. The project developer is obliged to inform the municipality of the date of completion of the works (DL 28/11). Following completion, the designer or an authorised technician must issue a final acceptance certificate, which must be sent to the municipality, certifying the conformity of the works with the originally submitted project and the variation in the cadastral value of eventual annexes DL 28/11). If construction is not completed within the deadline, a new PAS is required.
Single Authorisation Procedure
Onshore wind and PV installations exceeding predefined capacity thresholds (PV >10MW, onshore wind >60 kW) are subject to the Single Authorisation Procedure (Tab. A DL 387/03, Art. 30-33 DL 77/21). The Single Authorisation Procedure takes place within a ‘Conference of Services’, managed by the competent authority, and is responsible for issuing the Single Authorisation permit (§12 (4) DL 387/03). While quite a few concerned administrative bodies are involved in the decision-making process (DL 387/03), the Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities has a specific role in this conference, as it participates in the authorisation procedure in areas protected by the Cultural Heritage and Landscape Code (CHLC) (DL 42/04). If selected site is not in an area protected by the CHLC, the project developer must notify the relevant superintendency in order to verify the existence of protection proceedings or procedures for ascertaining the existence of archaeological assets (§13.3. Annex, DM 10/09/2010).
Within 30 days after reception of the documents, the competent authority calls for a ‘Conference of Services’ and collects all the opinions and consents from the concerned administrative bodies (§12 (3) DL 387/03). The deadline for the concerned administrative bodies to submit their opinions usually cannot exceed 45 days. If the administrative bodies in charge of environmental, landscape, territorial protection, cultural heritage or the protection of citizens' health are involved in the ‘Conference of Services’, the duration of the conference is 90 days (unless the laws or regulations establish a different duration) (§14-ter (2) L 241/90). The procedure shall be completed within a maximum of 180 days (§2 (4) L 241/90). Except for cases where the decisions must necessarily be taken, failure to communicate the decision within the specified deadline is considered unconditional consent (§20 L 241/90).
One Step Authorisation (PUMA/PAUR)
In Italy, all renewable energy installations with a capacity above 1 MW must prepare and submit to the Region (or the delegated province) a preliminary environmental study (Annex IV-bis DL 152/06). The Region or province carries out the Strategic environmental assessment and decides whether to proceed with the EIA, in which case a final environmental impact study must be prepared depending on their capacity:
• Single regional authorisation procedure (procedimento autorizzativo unico regionale – PAUR) for onshore wind or ground-mounted PV installations between 1 MW and 30 MW. It includes a Single Authorisation Procedure (as described above with small differences) and is managed by regions.
• Single Environmental Permit (provedimento unico in materia ambientale – PUMA) for onshore wind or ground-mounted PV installations exceeding 30 MW. The competent authority at the state level is the Ministry for Environment, Land and Sea Protection. The Technical Commission formed by the Ministry for Environment, Land and Sea Protection is responsible for reviewing the environmental impact of SEA and EIA procedures.
In the case of PAUR, the project developer submits the EIA application and all other required documents to the competent authority in electronic format.
Additionally, the applicant prepares the public notice, which must include an overview of the project, the EIA application and information on public participation. The competent authority then publishes the documents received online and within 10 days informs the concerned administrative bodies about the publication on their website. From the date of the public notice on the website is also the start date for the periods of consultation, assessment and adoption of the EIA. The administrative bodies have 30 days to examine the documentation. After verification of the completeness of the application file, a public consultation period commences and remains open for 30 days. During this time the public may submit their observations (Art. 24 (1;2) DL 152/06; Art. 27 (5) DL. 152/06; Art, 27-bis (2; 3; 4) DL152/06).
From this step on, the deadlines for the PUMA procedure are slightly different (Art. 27-bis (5) DL 152/06).
When the public consultation ends and all documentation is available, the competent authority has up to 10 days to organise a ‘Conference of Services’ for decision-making process and to invite all administrative bodies concerned. In the conference, the EIA and all the permits required for the implementation and operation of the project applied for by the applicant can be granted (§14-ter L 241/90). The ‘Conference of Services’ lasts 90 days. By law, excluding eventual voluntary changes to the project by the developer (e.g., new placement of turbines, modifications of the connection type, etc.), the maximum duration of the PAUR procedure is 170 days, plus up to a further 100 days for any additional requests and for a new public consultation procedure (§27-bis (7) DL 152/06).
In order to speed up project implementations compromised in the Italian Recovery and Resilience Plan (IRRP), related EIA’s must be carried out within a period of 130 days following the day of request (art 20. DL 77/21).
Repowering
There are simplifications depending on the size of modifications. In the event of substantial modifications, Single Authorisation Procedure applies. “Substantial modifications” are defined by the competent authority (local governments) (§5 l-bis DL 152/06). If required, EIA must be carried out (§5 (3) DL 28/11).
The “non substantial” revamping and repowering of powerplants (including photovoltaic and hydroelectric powerplants, and certain wind farms) can be authorised through a Simplified Authorisation Procedure (Art. 30-33 DL 77/21).Modifications without deviations in the physical dimensions, the volume of the structure and the area in which the systems are installed, etc., are not considered substantial.

Either the Region, the Province, or the Municipality