In 2009, the Swedish legislation regarding the administrative procedure applicable to onshore wind energy was amended, in part to increase wind power production, but also to fulfill the requirements in regard to the administrative procedures for renewable energy activities in the 2009 Renewables Directive. As a result, the dual permit and approval procedures under the Plan and Building Act and the Environmental Code were replaced with a procedure through which large onshore wind power installations are only assessed under the Environmental Code—and thus, only by the relevant County Administrative Board. In order to not circumvent the constitutionally protected and very strong principle of local self-governance of Swedish municipalities, the Swedish government introduced a provision in the Environmental Code, through which the municipalities were given a sort of veto over large wind power installations. According to Chapter 16 section 4, the municipalities’ consent is a prerequisite for granting licenses to large wind power installations. This provision has resulted in a number of issues concerning e.g. transparency and foreseeability. The municipalities do not have to justify or explain their decision, and the operators cannot appeal the decision in regard to its substance, but only in regard to certain procedural aspects found in the Swedish Local Government Act. There is also an issue with the possible non-compliance with Article 13 in the underlying RES-directive—an article that, ironically enough, was one of the main reasons for the 2009 amendment. The aim of this essay is to discuss the 2009 amendment and the problems that have surfaced in connection to the municipal veto, concerning, inter alia, the political goals of reaching a 100 percent renewable electricity production and increasing wind energy in the energy mix. The first three chapters deal primarily with the legislative background, i.e. de lege lata, with the occasional input from the author. The fourth chapter deals almost entirely with de lege ferenda discussions—mainly based on a report from the Swedish Energy Agency and the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency, in which the agencies suggest to altogether remove the provision from the Environmental Code. Other suggestions and alternatives are also discussed in this part. The chapter also contains a de lege lata description of the Danish administrative procedure, highlighting the Danish municipalities’ role in the Danish planning of wind energy. Lastly, in the fifth chapter, the conclusions are discussed briefly, with a suggestion from the author on how to proceed onwards.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:su-168039 |
| Date | January 2019 |
| Creators | Ståhl, Jenni |
| Publisher | Stockholms universitet, Juridiska institutionen |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | Swedish |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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