Government submits the bill to partially transpose the RED III directive for public consultation

The Minister of Environment and Energy submitted the draft bill that ensures the partial transposition of the RED III directive for public consultation. This will amend Decree-Law 151-B/2013 of 31 October, which sets a legal framework for environmental impact assessments and Decree-Law 15/2022 of 14 January, which sets the organisation and running of the National Electricity System.

Any comments and documents under this public consultation are submitted exclusively through the website ConsultaLEX (consultalex.gov.pt), upon registration by citizens, companies, or associations that wish to exercise their right to participate by 19 September, when the deadline closes.

The RED III (Renewable Energy Directive) is a legal framework that sets the development of clean energy in all of the European Union sectors and the revision in 2023 is based on the cooperation of all Member-States to reach the targets by 2030. 

One of the aims is for 42,5% of the energy consumed in the European Union by 2030 to come from renewable sources. In addition to this mandatory threshold, Member States should strive to collectively achieve an overall EU target of 45% of renewables, as established in the REPowerEU.

In this sense, measures will be fostered to make it easier to integrate renewable energy in the energy market, including simplified and swifter administrative procedures to authorise projects.

In order to meet the European commitments and pursue the national sustainability and energy transition goals, it is necessary to partially transpose RED III into Portuguese law. This transposition introduces significant innovation in the regulatory framework applicable to renewable energy, including the implementation of simplified and swifter administrative procedures to authorise renewable energy projects, making it easier to connect renewable energy production facilities to the electricity grid and boosting the guarantee of origin mechanisms for electricity that comes from renewables. 

These amendments have an impact on Decree-Law 15/2022 of 14 January, which sets the organisation and running of the National Electricity System, and Decree-Law 151-B/2013 of 31 October, which approves the legal scheme for environmental impact assessments for public and private projects that could yield significant effects on the environment.

The amendments introduced by this bill seek to harmonize Portuguese legislation with the new European provisions, ensuring the efficacy and swiftness of licensing processes and strengthening investors’ legal security.