Italian court lifts Sardinia's ban on renewable energy permits

The Italian Constitutional Court has ruled that the 'Sardinian Law' which prohibited renewable energy projects from being built in "non-suitable areas" was unconstitutional. This removes a major obstacle to the development of solar and wind power on Sardinia.

Sardinia has suffered another setback in its attempts to curtail renewable energy projects by regional laws, despite the President of the?regional Government's repeated concerns that green projects for the island were promoted by "speculators".

In a ruling released?on Thursday the court stated that Sardinia’s blanket freezing of permits until the 'adoption' of regional regulations was beyond the region's legislative powers and in conflict with national and European principles intended to meet energy transition targets.

The court stated that "Energy Transition must be pursued by a balanced approach which safeguards landscape and territorial planning, while supporting renewable energy development without disrupting authorisation framework established the state."

The judges also found that Sardinia’s freezing of permit procedures violated the constitutional principle of equality because it halted them indiscriminately regardless of their stage, investment or legitimate expectations from developers.

The ruling stated that areas deemed unsuitable do not face an absolute ban on renewables, but only lose access to simplified permit processes, which means projects still need to be assessed using ordinary authorisation procedures. Reporting by Francesca Landini, Editing by David Goodman

(source: Reuters)