The Law Decree No. 19 of February 28th, 2025, converted, with amendments, by Law No. 60 of April 24th, 2025 (also known as the “Bollette Decree”) recently introduced several significant emendments for the purpose of developing renewable projects including storage systems.
In this regard, the following is a concise and schematic summary of the main regulatory changes that have taken place along with some preliminary comment about their potential practical implications.
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1. Thermomechanical electric storage systems
Pursuant to Art. 3-quinquies of the Bollette Decree, in addition to electrochemical storage systems, thermomechanical electric storage systems are also expressly included among the interventions subject to the PAS regime set forth in All. B, Sec. I, lett. aa) and the Single Authorization regime set forth in All. C of the Renewables Consolidated Decree. To that effect:
interventions related to thermomechanical electric accumulators located within specific areas (e.g., within the perimeter of existing industrial plants or power generation facilities; within quarry areas, etc.) and upon the fulfillment of certain conditions (e.g., the intervention does not require variations to adopted urban planning instruments, etc.) are subject to PAS;
shall be subject to AU of regional competence the interventions related to thermo-mechanical electric accumulators: (a) connected or subservient to electric power generation plants with a capacity of 300 MW or less authorized but not yet built; (b) located in areas other than those described above and related to the PAS regime and capable of autonomously providing services for the benefit of the national electricity grid, with a capacity of 200 MW or less;
shall be subject to AU of state jurisdiction the interventions related to thermomechanical electric accumulators: (a) connected or subservient to electric power generation plants of more than 300 MW authorized but not yet built; (b) located in areas other than those described above and related to the PAS regime of more than 200 MW.
Furthermore, as to storage systems Art. 3-sexies of the Bollette Decree provides that the MASE, subject to the stipulation of a special agreement, can make use of the GSE in relation to authorization procedures concerning so-called storage systems.
The above with the aim of streamlining the related administrative processes.
Therefore, on the one hand, the categories of storage systems subject to the regulations of the Renewables Consolidates Decree are expressly supplemented and, on the other hand, the assistance of the GSE is provided to expedite the administrative proceedings functional and related to the implementation of such projects.
2. Hydropower storage through pure pumping
Art. 4-bis, co. 1, lett. a, num. 2, of the Bollette Decree amends art. 9, co. 13 of the Renewables Consolidated Decree, the provision of which now stipulates that, also for hydroelectric storage plants through pure pumping, within the scope of the relevant AU proceedings (of state competence) both the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport and the region concerned shall express their opinion in the services conference.
In this case, too, therefore, the range of public administrations to be involved is extended by expressly stipulating that the region affected by the relevant project must also be heard for the purposes of the permitting process.
3. Offshore power plants
Similar amendments are introduced with regard to offshore projects.
Specifically, it is provided that in AU proceedings related to off-shore facilities (under state jurisdiction) not only the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport and the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Sovereignty (for aspects related to marine fisheries) but also the relevant coastal region concerned must be heard at the service conference.
The same applies to upgrades, repowering, refurbishment, reactivation and reconstruction, replacement or reconversion of existing or authorized plants involving a total capacity of more than 300 MW (see Art. 9, para. 13, TU Renewables as amended by Art. 4-bis, para. 1, letter a), num. 1 of the Bollette Decree).
4. Hydroelectric
It extends the regime of free activity to hydroelectric plants with a generating capacity of less than 500 kW of concession power and that comply with specific technical-urban requirements (e.g., built on existing pipelines without increase nor of the existing flow rate; do not involve changes to the intended use, etc.) (see Art. 4-bis, co. 1, letter b) of the Bollette Decree).
The objective is to attempt to facilitate the development of certain hydropower projects that, due to their technical/design characteristics, are suitable to undergo a particularly simplified process.
In general terms, it should be noted that the PAS regime is provided for hydropower plants of <100 kW capacity and the AU in the case of plants above this threshold.
5. Agri-voltaic power plants
Art. 4-bis, para. 1, lett. c) of the Bollette Decree removed the reference to agri-voltaic plants from Annex B, Sec. I of the Renewables Consolidated Decree.
The previous version established that solar photovoltaic or agrivoltaic systems with a capacity of up to 1 MW were subject to PAS.
This change would seem to have been made essentially to address the discordance of this provision with All. A of the Renewables Consolidated Decree, according to which the “free activity regime” applies to agri-voltaic plants of less than 5 MW, and which allows for the continuity of agricultural and pastoral activity.
6. Wind power plants
As anticipated, the amendments introduced through the Bollette Decree produce reflections not only on permitting processes but also on environmental ones.
Specifically, Art. 4-bis, para. 2, supplemented Annex IV of the Environmental Code by providing that projects for the refurbishment or repowering of existing, licensed or authorized wind power plants to be built on the same site and involving an increase in capacity of more than 30 MW are subject to regional EIA screening.
It should be noted that this capacity threshold, in line with what was clarified by the MASE (Protest Prot. 65335 of April 24th, 2023) shall be calculated on the basis of the project under evaluation only and excluding any plants or projects located in contiguous areas or that have the same center of interest or the same connection point and for which an environmental impact assessment is already underway or an environmental compatibility measure has already been issued.
It should also be noted that under recent administrative jurisprudence (Lecce Administrative Court, Judgments Nos. 11/2025 and 935/2024), for the purposes of cumulation, only projects undergoing authorization should be considered, and not also plants insisting in contiguous areas already built and in operation.
7. EIA priority projects
Pursuant to Art. 4-quater of the Bollette Decree, the list provided under Art. 8 of the Environmental Code is supplemented by establishing that power generation plants from renewable sources subject to single authorization under state jurisdiction as per All. C, Sec. II of the Renewables Consolidated Decree (e.g., plants with a capacity >300MW; offshore, etc.) are also to be considered as priority projects.
Thus, the list of project categories to be prioritized in the context of the order of processing EIA proceedings under the responsibility of the PNRR-PNIEC Technical Commission is expanded.
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The innovations introduced by the Bollette Decree would seem to be largely directed at broadening the range of institutional actors to be involved in the context of relevant authorization procedures for the development of renewable projects.
The reference is to the projects of thermomechanical electric storage, hydroelectric storage through pure pumping, and off-shore plants for which the involvement of the GSE and/or interested regions is envisaged.
Purely theoretically, the increase in institutional stakeholders at the authorization tables could make the completion of administrative processes less expeditious.
On this point, however, it seems premature to take a definitive position; in fact, the application implications of the regulatory innovation will have to be observed in order to assess whether it will benefit market operators in terms of greater efficiency and speed of the procedures of their interest.
Of a different tenor and of no marginal importance appear to be the changes concerning environmental proceedings.
In fact, the introduction of the 30 MW threshold for EIA screening of wind farm modifications would seem to sharpen the application perimeter of the rule, previously made opaque by, among other things, unspecified references to the production of significant and negative environmental impacts (see Art. 6, para. 6 of the Environmental Code).
One can also look favorably on the inclusion among the priority projects, for the purposes of EIA proceedings, of those subject to state AU under the Renewables Consolidated Decree.
In relation to this last profile, however, it seems appropriate to emphasize that this amendment is in the wake of recent administrative jurisprudence, which has clarified on several occasions that this priority criterion is not in itself capable of derogating from the obligation to conclude all EIA proceedings instituted before the Technical Commission (i.e., not only those "priority" proceedings) within the peremptory deadlines established by law (on this point, see our commentary on the recent Council of State ruling, April 22, 2025, no. 3465).
