Only one energy-related EIA procedure has been started in Upper Austria since 2015: the 220 kV Ernsthofen-Linz high-voltage line to voestalpine for the production of “green” steel. It will be completed this year, “at the speed of light”. The average duration of the procedure from the date of application is 19.7 months in Upper Austria, and 15.7 months if the documents are complete.
According to Kaineder, any power plant applications for water, wind or sun (PV) would be “treated with priority” by his EIA department, but the applications were missing. In principle, no EIA is required for wind turbines and PV systems. Why is nothing going on here? “This is due to the political framework. PV and wind have great potential in Upper Austria,” but the black-and-blue master plans in the state “make it impossible to expand and build new ones” for large-scale plants. The Environment Council demands that the approval guidelines for open-space PV should be revised.
Paperless submission coming soon
In a pilot project with the state’s IT department and the department responsible for the EIA, work is being done on the digital submission and processing of the procedures. Paperless application should be possible in the course of 2023.
Source: Nachrichten
