Bill establishes choice for funding procedures energy projects
A new bill has been put into Internet consultation that deals with the funding of procedures for energy projects. The proposed amendment may be relevant to large-scale energy infrastructure projects, including battery storage projects with a capacity greater than 100 MW.
Under this proposal, when a project requires a so-called project decision, for example for projects of national importance such as large-scale battery storage (>100 MW), the government will have the ability to determine how the costs of the procedure will be recovered.
To date, these costs are usually settled through a private law agreement between government and initiator. In practice, this often means that (part of) the costs are paid indirectly from public funds. With this bill, the government aims to change this. The starting point is that initiators, such as network operators and market parties, generate income from these projects and therefore also bear the procedural costs.
The bill establishes that the government can choose between two forms of cost recovery:
- a private law agreement (contract), or
- charging fees (official handling fees).
The Internet consultation allows parties to respond to this proposal until April 30.
