An energy ministry draft bill carrying a second round of RES license simplification measures for prospective projects carries revisions designed to merge three licensing steps into one in order to quicken the overall procedure.

According to the draft bill, three stages needed to be satisfied by investors, the connection term process, installation permit, and establishment of an operating aid contract with RES market operator DAPEEP, will be carried out concurrently.

Until now, one stage has needed to be completed before the next can commence.

This revision will reduce the total number of RES licensing stages to five from seven at present.

Under the new system, the RES licensing procedure will begin with the producer certificate, which investors must obtain before applying for an environmental permit as the second step, and then applying for connection terms as step three. The fourth step for investors will entail establishing agreements with DAPEEP and the grid operator, while the fifth and final stage will involve obtaining an operating license.

The total number of supporting documents required by RES investors for the overall licensing procedure is being reduced from 91 to 54, the energy ministry announced.