Connecting a solar power system in Europe can take between less than a month to over several years. Since PV is considered one of the most important energy technologies for future power generation, a European project consortium has been developed to facilitate the deployment of this technology by addressing administrative burdens. The PV Legal project, which was formally presented at the recent European Photovoltaic Solar Energy Conference and Exhibition in hamburg (Germany), aims to look in depth at improving such conditions in 12 EU Member States.

The objective of the project is to enhance PV legal-administrative procedures by involving its crucial administrative actors in Bulgaria, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Poland, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain, The Netherlands and United Kingdom.

According to the EPIA, the first step for the PV Legal project consortium is to establish a comprehensive database to analyse the bureaucratic efforts that need to be tackled by investors in PV systems in 12 selected EU member states. The database will provide stakeholders, policymakers and grid operators with a systematic analysis of practical experiences with regulatory barriers and grid connection issues that are encompassed by investors in PV systems. The removal of such barriers is considered key by both the industry as well as the European Union, which supports the endeavour under the Intelligent Energy Europe Programme.

Once the database is established, policy makers and grid operators in the main European PV markets will be addressed by means of advisory papers as well as national forums (conferences) and ad-hoc workshops to provide and discuss recommendations for the improvement and simplification of administrative burdens.

The PV Legal project consortium is being coordinated by BSW-Solar from Germany and counts on the participation of Eclareon, EPIA, ASIF (Spain), Assosolare (Italy), ENERPLAN and SER (France), HELAPCO (Greece), PTPV (Poland), the Slovenian Photovoltaic Industry Association – ZSFI, the Renewable Energy Association (UK), the South East European Renewable Energy Industry Association (Belgium), the Czech Photovoltaic Industry Association, Holland Solar, and APESF (Portugal).

National and regional forums and legal-administrative workshops will also be organised, with two status reports being published at the beginning and end of the project assessing the status-quo and the evolution of PV legal-administrative frameworks.

EPIA will soon set-up a website where the future PV Legal database will be located and freely accessible.

For additional information:

EPIA