Power grids set to receive speedier permissions under new German law

The German parliament has passed a law aimed at speeding up and simplifying infrastructure buildout in the country, and decided that certain energy projects should also be included. The law classifies key transport infrastructure - including roads, railways and waterways - as well as electricity grid expansion as projects of overriding public interest and public safety. Many of these projects will be funded through the country's 500-billion-euro special fund for infrastructure and climate neutrality. Energy industry association BDEW welcomed the decision, arguing that extending the so-called Infrastructure for the Future Act to energy projects is "important for effectively supporting the necessary expansion and modernisation of the electricity grids".At the heart of the law is an amendment to the Federal Nature Conservation Act, reported news service Tagesspiegel Background. In future, project developers will be able to pay compensation for interventions in nature and the landscape, rather than physically restoring the affected areas on site. BDEW said this change had the potential to “significantly speed up progress,” especially on grid expansion. But environmental NGO umbrella organisation DNR said the law would “indiscriminately” prioritise many projects that are harmful to the environment, such as motorways. The associated changes, such as exemptions from environmental impact assessments, “increase the risk of irreversible damage,” the group warned. Transport minister Patrick Schnieder said the law would neither lower environmental standards nor weaken nature conservation. “Procedures will be made more efficient,” with the aim of making environmental and nature conservation more practical and easier to manage, he told parliament.The government is also drafting a law that would declare important nature protection projects – such as healthy soils, moorlands or climate-resilient forests – as being of “overriding public interest.”

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