Prepared by Energy Team
As anticipated through our previous Newsletter , on 30September 2021, the Gestore dei Servizi Energetici S.p.A. (“GSE”) published the calls for the last of the seven procedures related to the enrolment in the Registries and Auctions regulated under the Ministerial Decree of 4 July 2019 (“FER1 Decree”).
On the same date has been even published a new version of the Operating Regulations on Registers and Auctions’ enrolment (“Enrolment Regulations”) and the Operating Regulations on the access to incentives (“Access Regulations”), setting out the procedures concerning the access to incentives for agrovoltaic plants.
Particularly, the Enrolment Regulations has included within the general requirements needed in order to be registered to the Registers and to award the Auctions, the observance of the provisions laid down under Art. 65 of the Law Decree 1/2012 related to the prohibition to access the incentives for plants with modules ground-mounted in agricultural areas.
As underlined under our previous Newsletter, Article 65 of Law Decree 1/2012 was amended by Law Decree 77/2021 (“Simplification Decree Bis”), which introduced the chance for agrovoltaic plants to benefit from the incentives regulated under the FER1 Decree.
In line with the above, the Access Regulations provides that the prohibition of access to state incentives for plants with modules ground-mounted in agricultural areas does not apply:
- to photovoltaic plants to be built on areas declared as sites of national interest (“SIN”) provided that they have been authorized under Article 4, paragraph 2, of Legislative Decree 28/2011.
- to photovoltaic plants to be built on closed and restored landfills, quarries not suitable for further utilization, for which the responsible authority has certified the completion of the environmental recovery and restoration activities required under the authorization title in compliance with applicable regional regulations, authorized pursuant to Article 4, paragraph 2, of Legislative Decree 28/2011, and in any case access to incentives for these plants does not require further certification and declarations;
- to agrovoltaic plants which implement innovative integrative solutions with the assembly of the modules raised from the ground, also providing for the module’s rotation, in any case so as not to compromise the continuity of agricultural and pastoral cultivation activities, also allowing the application of digital and precision agriculture tools. For these plants, access to incentives is also subjected to the simultaneous implementation of monitoring systems that make it possible to verify the impact on crops, water savings, agricultural productivity for different types of crops and the continuity of the activities of the farms concerned.
Annex D of the Enrolment Regulations provides the list of the documentation to be submitted for theregistration request, introducing the attachment ID A18, related to the documentation aimed at verifying the compliance with the prohibition to access to incentives for photovoltaic plants with ground-mounted modules in agricultural areas.
Specifically, in case of a ground-mounted plant whose modules are installed – by virtue of the exemptions mentioned in letters A, B and C above – in agricultural areas, the relevant operator shall file a set of documents aimed at certifying that the plant’s characteristics are eligible for the application of the exemptions.
By way of example:
- in case of photovoltaic plants to be constructed on SIN areas and authorized according to art. 4.2 of the Legislative Decree 28/2011, if the evidence that the area on which the plant will be realized is a SIN cannot be found in the authorization document, it is necessary to send further documentation issued by the competent authority confirming that the area could be classified as a SIN;
- in case of photovoltaic plants to be built on closed and restored landfills or quarries, it is necessary to attach the certificate issued by the competent authority regarding the completion of the environmental recovery and restoration activities;
- in case of agrovoltaic plants, it is necessary to submit a declaration issued by the responsible subject aimed at attesting “that the plant will be built, under penalty of forfeiture of the right to incentives, in compliance with the requirements set forth in paragraphs 1-quater and 1-quinquies of Article 65 of Law Decree 1/2012, converted by Law 27/2012, as introduced by Law No. 108 of 29 July 2021”, and therefore that:
- will be implemented innovative integrative solutions by assembling the modules elevated from the ground and providing for the rotation of the modules themselves, so as not to compromise the continuity ofagricultural and pastoral cultivation activities, also allowing the application of digital and precision agriculture tools (art. 65, paragraph 1-quater); and, simultaneously,
- will be implemented monitoring systems for verifying the impact on crops, water savings, agricultural productivity for the different types of crops and the continuity of the relevant farm’s activities.
Please note that any failure to comply with the requirements imposed for the exemption’s application entails the incentives’ forfeiture.
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Tommaso Tomaiuolo
PwC TLS Avvocati e Commercialisti
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