National Council discusses accelerating the energy transition
Published: Thursday, Dec 21st 2023, 04:50
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The planning and approval procedures for hydroelectric, solar and wind power plants are to be accelerated so that the energy transition can gain momentum. The National Council will be the first chamber to discuss the so-called acceleration decree on Thursday morning.
Because the demand for electricity will continue to increase in the coming years and import options are limited, the Federal Council and Parliament want to accelerate the expansion of domestic power plants. The aim is to expand renewable energies in order to increase security of supply, particularly in winter.
The implementation of Energy Strategy 2050 is underway. A key part of this is the framework decree that Parliament passed in the fall and which is expected to come into force at the beginning of 2025. The Councils have also decided to simplify the approval process for large photovoltaic and wind energy systems - the two "Express" bills. In addition to this, a further bill is now ready to replace the temporary wind and solar express.
With the acceleration decree, the Federal Council wants to amend the Energy Act to streamline the procedures for the planning and construction of large power plants for renewable energies. Specifically, solar power plants, wind farms and hydropower plants of national interest are to be planned and approved more quickly.
The Federal Council wants a concentrated planning approval procedure for solar and wind energy. The siting canton alone should approve the construction of plants as well as extensions and renovations and also issue the permits that are currently issued by the municipality. The municipalities should be involved in the process at an early stage.
More hydropower plants
The National Council's Committee for the Environment, Spatial Planning and Energy (Urek-N) clearly backed the bill in the run-up to the debate and ultimately approved it by 18 votes to 0 with 7 abstentions. The SVP wants to refer the matter back to the Federal Council. An individual motion from the same camp called for the bill to be rejected.
In the likely event that these proposals are rejected, the Grand Chamber will discuss various amendments proposed by its committee. By a narrow majority, the Urek-N proposes that it be expressly written into the law that the cantons can make the consent of the siting municipalities a prerequisite for the approval of a plant under the fast-track procedure.
Various minorities are calling for even more extensive co-determination rights for local communities. These should go as far as a mandatory referendum.
According to Urek-N, the decision to apply the ordinary approval procedure should also lie with the project developers of solar and wind energy plants and not with the approval authority.
The National Council committee would also like to speed up the licensing procedures for hydropower plants. The cantons are to introduce a concentrated procedure for the granting of licenses and usage planning. According to the plans of the Urek-N, they are free to determine which cantonal or communal authority is responsible for this procedure.
There are to be no changes to the building permit procedure. It should also remain possible to apply the normal planning and concession procedures.
AKW-Debatte
The National Council will decide on various minority motions. SVP and FDP representatives want the right of appeal for associations to be restricted for projects of national interest. On the one hand, this should only apply to organizations with over 50,000 members. On the other hand, the organizations should no longer be entitled to delegate this right to their regional sub-organizations.
Motions from the SVP and FDP parliamentary groups to allow the construction of new nuclear power plants under certain conditions will also give rise to discussion. They argue that this is the only way for Switzerland to gain time for the planning and construction of new large-scale power plants. Such proposals failed during the consultation on the blanket decree. It will be interesting to see whether the newly composed National Council will come to a different conclusion.
The acceleration decree will be followed by further bills on energy supply security over the next few years. These include the continuation of the Winter Reserve Ordinance, which expires at the end of 2026. A possible electricity agreement with the EU is also open.
In addition, the Federal Council is expected to open the consultation process for a bill to accelerate grid expansion in 2024. After all, a power plant serves no one if there is no connection or the grid capacities are not sufficient to transport and distribute the energy.
©Keystone/SDA
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