Brussels, 2 March 2011 – PV LEGAL partners conclude that it is time to act and remove administrative barriers and to ease grid connection processes in Europe. In the past semester the national partners of the PV LEGAL project have organised a road show in 7 EU countries including the organisation of national conferences in Italy, Germany, Spain, Greece, Slovenia, France and Poland. The conclusions from each event are unanimous: “long and inefficient administrative processes are an unnecessary cost born by the society and constitute a severe barrier to the development of the photovoltaic (PV) market” says Thomas Chrometzka, Head of
International Affairs at BSW-Solar, the German Solar Industry Association, coordinator of the PV LEGAL project.

The first PV LEGAL status report presented on each of these events reflects how burdensome administrative processes can unnecessarily slow down the development of a PV project not to mention increasing its cost. In the case of large systems (Segment C) complying with legal-administrative barriers can represent up to 50% of the overall development cost in Spain for example while this is limited to 8% in Germany and less than 20% in Bulgaria (see figure 1).

Based on the findings of the 1st PV LEGAL project report, the fastest administration procedure among the 12 countries is that of Germany’s, where they manage to provide authorizations for small residential systems in less than one month.

The PV LEGAL project partners are developing detailed recommendations in order to improve these processes. These come at the right time as the European Commission (EC) is analysing the National Renewable Energy Action Plans provided by each of the 27 EU member States as we speak. The national recommendations will be published in English and in National language, they will provide concrete solutions to the existing unnecessary burdens stemming from administrative processes and grid connection requirements. These national recommendations are being developed thanks to the experience shared among the national partners of the project. “We hope both national decision makers when transposing the RES Directive and the European Commission will consider these advises which are being developed based on a unique expertise on administrative and grid connection processes for PV system development at EU level” concludes Marie Latour, National Policy Advisor at the European Photovoltaic Industry Association (EPIA).

PV LEGAL Resources
- Analysis of existing administrative and legal processes in 12 EU countries (BG, CZ, DE, ES, FR, GR, IT, NL, PL, PT, SI, UK) are available through the powerful PV LEGAL database (available in English and the national language): http://www.pvlegal.eu/database.html.
- A summary of this analysis is available in the 1st PV LEGAL report (in English) available for download here: http://www.pvlegal.eu/results/status-reports.html
- Read the conclusions from the 7 National Forums: http://www.pvlegal.eu/events/national-forums.html
- Preliminary recommendations for 7 EU countries (DE, ES, FR, GR, IT, PL, SI) for improvements at national and regional level are available in English and national languages here: http://www.pvlegal.eu/results/advisory-papers.html

About PV LEGAL

The PV LEGAL project, funded by the European Commission’s Intelligent Energy for Europe programme, aims at reducing bureaucratic barriers holding back the development of Photovoltaic (PV) energy installations throughout Europe. It gathers a group of 13 national PV industry associations together with the European Photovoltaic Industry Association (EPIA) and the Management Consultants eclareon:

Partners:
- BSW-Solar, German Solar Industry Association (Coordinator)
- ASIF, Spanish Photovoltaic Industry Association
- Assosolare, Italian Photovoltaic Industry Association
- ENERPLAN, French Solar professional association
- HELAPCO, Hellenic Association of Photovoltaic Companies
- PTPV, Polish Society for Photovoltaics
- Micropower Council, UK
- SER, French Renewable Energy Industry Association
- ZSFI, Slovenian Photovoltaic Industry Association
- EPIA, European Photovoltaic Industry Association
- eclareon Management Consultants

Collaborating organisations: Holland Solar (NL), Czech Renewable Energy Agency, APESF (Portuguese Photovoltaic Industry Association), Bulgarian Photovoltaic Association.

More information:
European Photovoltaic Industry Association;
Marie Latour, National Policy Advisor,
Tel: +32 2 400 10 13, Email: m.latour@epia.org