Italian local governments must identify suitable areas for renewable energy projects, says draft decree | WKZO

ROME/MILAN (Reuters) – The Italian government will order regional authorities to identify suitable areas for renewable energy projects within six months, a draft decree showed on Thursday in a long-awaited regulation aimed at accelerating the development of green energy.

The decree sets annual targets for each Italian region to increase renewable capacity by 80 gigawatts (GW) by 2030 compared to the end of 2020.

Under the draft decree, Sicily will have to add almost 10.5 GW of renewable capacity by the end of the decade, the most of any Italian region.

In second place will be the northern region of Lombardy, home to Italy’s financial capital, Milan, with a planned additional capacity of 8.8 GW by 2030.

Once the final decree is published, regions will have six months to identify suitable areas.

The new rules provide for an accelerated permitting procedure for projects that will be located in specific areas, but also confirm the ban on installing solar panels on agricultural land, which has been sharply criticized by the Italian energy industry.

The Ministry of Energy, together with national energy authorities GSE and RSE, will monitor whether the annual targets set for each region are achieved, the decree said, adding that the government could take action if a local government fails to meet its annual target.

(Reporting by Francesca Landini and Giuseppe Fonte; Editing by Susan Fenton)