It now takes twice as long to push through a permit for wind power in the courts than a few years ago. “This at a time when everyone is talking about the processing times having to be shortened,” says Tomas Hallberg, responsible for permit issues at Svensk Vindenergi.
Last year, it took almost two years to process and finally come to a decision on new wind power in the land and environmental courts. During the previous seven years, it took an average of one year, shows a study from Swedish Wind Energy that Westander and Climate and Energy did on behalf of the industry organization.
Still, the number of projects was fewer. The processing times at the county administrative boards also often drag on. According to Tomas Hallberg, there are several explanations for the increasingly long processes. On the one hand, the projects are larger and more complex, but it is also a matter of the administrators at the county administrative boards, when the projects become larger, becoming more uncertain and filling in with more investigations.
Reasonable resistance
– There is a resource problem here, says Tomas Hallberg.
In addition, the voices of opponents have been raised to a greater extent. This can be, for example, from the reindeer herding industry or defenders of species protection.
– Which is also very reasonable, says Hallberg.
But still, it should not have to take so long, especially in times when many talk about the long processing times as a big problem when Sweden must build more energy and electricity grids to meet the challenges, according to the wind industry, which likes to see the number of environmental assessment delegations at county administrative boards reduced down from today’s twelve.
EU rules
– You should look at both how the permit units are organized and what resources they have, says Tomas Hallberg.
He also points out that the EU rules state that the time from application to decision in the first instance may not exceed two years, including all relevant procedures at the competent authorities, something Sweden has implemented inadequately.
This is how an application is made
The procedure in an application for permission to build wind power is briefly as follows:
First, a collaboration council takes place between the stakeholders concerned. Thereafter, an application is submitted to the County Administrative Board’s environmental assessment delegation, which makes a decision. If someone complains about the decision, the case ends up with the Land and Environment Court, which in turn can be appealed to the Land and Environment Court.
The statistics include 281 land-based wind power applications that have been decided in the first instance since 2014.
Source: Swedish Wind Energy
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