With a view to achieving climate neutrality and targets for the proportion of energy from renewable sources in gross final consumption in the Republic of Slovenia, the National Assembly adopted on 6 July 2023 the Act on the introduction of installations for the production of electricity from renewable energy sources (“ZUNPEOVE”), which will enter into force on the fifteenth day following its publication in the Official Journal of the Republic of Slovenia. The Republic of Slovenia is obliged to meet its renewable energy targets in accordance with the legal framework of the European Union. The Republic of Slovenia has set a target of 25% renewable energy in final energy consumption by 2020 and, with the adoption of the National Energy and Climate Plan, is committed to achieving a target of at least 27% by 2030, with these targets to be further increased with the updating of the Directive on the promotion of the use of energy from RES1 in the framework of the “Ready for 55” package. The transition to renewable energy is not only important from an environmental perspective, but also in view of the growing need for electricity self-sufficiency in the EU countries.
In accordance with the new ZUNPEOVE, the Government of the Republic of Slovenia will adopt an action plan for the implementation of the Spatial Development Strategy of Slovenia, which will identify priority areas for the placement of installations for the production of electricity from solar and wind energy. Nevertheless, the priority areas for the placement of photovoltaic installations will be the roofs of buildings, paved areas of car parks, road land and road structures, railway areas, the area of electricity production facilities, areas of closed landfills, areas of abandoned mineral mines and areas of inactive waste dumps. To this end, ZUNPEOVE will also intervene in the areas of other laws, e.g. the Water Act and the Road Act. It will also be possible to generate electricity from photovoltaic installations and wind power generation installations in areas of agricultural and forest land, provided that this does not hinder the land from serving its primary purpose.
An important novelty introduced by ZUNPEOVE is the regulatory sandboxes, which will be designed to test new and advanced technologies, products or approaches in the field of electricity generation from renewable energy sources and storage, or to re-purpose existing ones. Regulatory sandboxes will be approved by the Government of the Republic of Slovenia and will also be granted exemptions from specific provisions of regulations in the fields of energy, spatial planning, construction, mining, etc. for their use. The Government will grant approval if the proposed project will significantly contribute to the development of electricity generation from renewable energy sources, if this benefit outweighs the severity of the interference with the provisions of specific regulations in the aforementioned fields, and if the approval of the sandbox does not contravene EU regulations.
Furthermore, the ZUNPEOVE foresees the granting of geothermal concessions for the implementation of projects for the exploration of geothermal energy potential and the exploratory phase of electricity production using geothermal energy. A legal or natural person wishing to obtain a geothermal concession will have to submit an initiative to initiate the procedure to the Ministry in charge of energy.
In addition, ZUNPEOVE will reduce the proportion of consents required for the installation of a photovoltaic installation on a co-owned property or on the common parts of a commonhold building. It will now be necessary to obtain the consent of co-owners holding more than three quarters of the ideal shares or of commonhold building owners holding more than three quarters of the co-ownership shares in the common parts of the building. The same will apply if an easement or a building right has to be created in order to carry out the photovoltaic installation. Under certain conditions, ZUNPEOVE also provides for the establishment of an easement or building right for the installation, maintenance and operation of a photovoltaic installation on a building owned by the State or a self-governing local authority free of charge. Special mention should also be made of the introduction of the possibility to pay a one-time compensation to the municipality in which a new wind generation installation is installed, which may be determined by the Government of the Republic of Slovenia.
The adoption of the ZUNPEOV represents an important step towards increasing the proportion of energy from renewable energy sources, which is key to ensuring sustainable energy, a higher level of self-sufficiency in electricity production and greater reliability of energy supply.