Acceleration areas and shortened approval procedures are intended to ensure faster expansion of wind and solar parks as well as energy storage at the same locations. The move implements requirements from the EU Renewable Energy Directive of 2023. Approvals will also be facilitated for electrolyzers to ramp up hydrogen production.

Germany's federal cabinet on Wednesday approved a draft law that would implement the EU's Renewable Energy Directive.

Drawn up jointly by the ministries of transport, environment and economic affairs, the draft law contains planning and approval provisions for onshore wind power and photovoltaics. Acceleration areas and shortened approval times are intended to drive renewables expansion forward more quickly. The regulations also apply to energy storage systems that are built at the same location, according to the economic affairs ministry.

The proposed law's central element is the designation of so-called acceleration areas for onshore wind turbines and for PV systems that include associated energy storage, which is regulated in the Building Code and Spatial Planning Act. Projects within these areas could then be approved in a simplified and accelerated procedure in accordance with the new provisions in the Wind Energy Area Requirements Act, according to the ministry. In addition, acceleration measures provided for by the directive for all projects, including those outside acceleration areas, would be implemented through changes to the Federal Immission Control Act.

The Renewable Energy Directive, revised last year, is based on the EU's goal of increasing the share of renewable energy sources in gross final energy consumption to at least 42.5% in the EU. To achieve this goal, the approval procedures must be significantly accelerated.

“The implementation of the acceleration areas is a real booster for more onshore wind energy. And it is also urgently needed when we look at the expansion figures for wind,” said Carolin Dähling, head of communications and policy at Green Planet Energy. “It is also positive that, compared to the previous draft, the federal government is making it easier for storage systems to be combined not only with solar but also with wind energy systems. This will further accelerate the expansion of storage systems, help with the market integration of renewables, reduce times of negative electricity prices and thus make the systems more economical.”