The National Assembly, at its session of 25 May 2023, adopted the Act on Infrastructure for Alternative Fuels and the Promotion of the Transition to Alternative Fuels in Transport (ZIAG, hereinafter the “Act“), which implements Directive 2014/94/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 22 October 2014 on the establishment of an infrastructure for alternative fuels into the Slovenian legal order. The objective of the Act is to establish a dense publicly accessible network of refuelling and supply infrastructure for alternative fuels in transport and to increase the share of alternative fuel vehicles.
The Act provides for three levels of infrastructure development for alternative fuels.
- It establishes strategic planning for alternative fuels infrastructure, namely:
- Charging infrastructure for vehicles, vessels and stationary aircraft,
- supply infrastructure for natural gas vehicles and vessels,
- hydrogen supply infrastructure,
whereby the Act focuses on the planning of a network of electric charging infrastructure for road transport. A coordinated planning approach will take into account the long-term impacts of the integration of transport into the electricity system on the protection and stability of the grid, which will lead to the establishment of a public utility service (GJS) for the identification of sites, establishment and management of charging parks with a capacity of 300 kW and above. The way in which the sites to be used for the electric charging structure will be planned will be based on the efficient use of the existing supporting infrastructure, such as transport, energy, communication and other complementary infrastructure.
- The Act provides for the introduction of a long-term dedicated source for the co-financing of measures for the transition to alternative fuels, namely, funds from the annual levy on the use of motor vehicles and trailers registered in Slovenia in road transport, to be determined by the Government by regulation, will be earmarked, if necessary, for the implementation of the measures provided for in the Act. Additional contributions are therefore not foreseen.
- The Act also provides for the establishment of the Centre for the Promotion of the Transition to Alternative Fuels as the implementing body for the implementation of public calls for tenders and calls for proposals for the allocation of earmarked funds for the establishment of appropriate charging and refuelling infrastructure, for the modification of the fleet structure and for other support measures to accelerate the transition to alternative fuels.
The Act also lays down technical rules for the installation, operation and maintenance of charging and supply infrastructure.
In order to adequately plan and financially support actions that will target areas where there are gaps in publicly available alternative fuels infrastructure, the Act introduces mandatory registration of charging and refuelling infrastructure and the provision of information on location, capacity, price, etc. to a national access point. The data from the national access point will also be transmitted to the digital platform for investment promotion, where it will be merged with data on unoccupied planned sites (connection capacity, parking space availability) from electricity operators’ plans and local plans.
Transparency of the existing charging infrastructure will benefit users, owners and investors, by increasing the utilisation of existing infrastructure and directing investors to sites that are not yet occupied.
