With Regional Law of 10 February 2025, no. 1, entitled "Provisions on hydraulic concessions and derivations for hydroelectric purposes," the Veneto Region completed its intervention in the matter of hydroelectric concessions, amending Regional Law of 3 July 2020, no. 27, and specifically Article 4 thereof.
In force since 14 February 2025, the day of publication in the Official Bulletin of the Veneto Region, the regulatory provision unifies the three previous legislative proposals (i.e., nos. 221, 283, and 291) and introduces a key extension for the operation of small expired hydroelectric derivations: under the previous text, the expiration date was set at 31 July 2024, but, as a result of the amendment, this date has been replaced with "31 July 2029."
Indeed, Regional Law no. 1/2025 extends by five years the small concessions that expired in July 2024, aiming to provide the State with technically sufficient time to identify and implement a proper regulatory framework for the allocation of small hydroelectric derivations, as considered by the Regional Council.
In fact, the rationale of the amendment lies in the awareness of the current absence, at the national level, of a regulation aimed at managing the renewal of small concessions through competitive procedures: in this regard, reference is made to European directives, such as the "Bolkestein" Directive, for which the calling of tenders for awarding hydroelectric derivations to new concessionaires ensures fair competition but, consequently, requires extensive time during which, as stated by the president of the Second Council Committee, "we cannot leave uncovered an essential service such as electricity production, especially considering how problematic and economically costly other forms of energy supply are, primarily those from fossil fuels."
Furthermore, with the same Regional Law no. 1/2025, the Veneto Region also intervened on concessions for large plants, assigning – from the effective date of the amendment – to the Regional Government the possibility to allow, for concessions expired before 31 December 2024, the temporary continuation by the concessionaire of the operation of large hydroelectric derivation plants for the time deemed necessary to complete the procedures for the allocation of those same large hydroelectric derivations.
The aim of this provision is to ensure the continuity of electricity production, considering the time needed to carry out the inventory of the works, assets, and plants related to large hydroelectric derivations, as well as to guarantee the execution of the tender procedures.
Although, therefore, this is a “transitional” legal provision, whose introduction, moreover, allows for the possibility of knowing, in the meantime, the ruling of the European Court of Justice on the applicability of the aforementioned “Bolkestein” Directive also to small hydroelectric derivations, the Council of Ministers, in the session of 9 April, decided to challenge the same Regional Law no. 1/2025, considering some of the provisions contained therein illegitimate with respect to Articles 11 and 117, paragraphs 1 and 2, letter e), of the Italian Constitution.
In particular, the Council considered that “the regional provision under examination outlines a specific case of renewal that deviates from competitive principles, thereby crystallizing the implicit recognition of a renewal, in evident contrast with the principles of publicity, transparency and non-discrimination provided for by EU legislation and in particular by Article 12 of the Bolkestein Directive which, according to consistent jurisprudence, constitutes a self-executing rule of the EU legal order and, as such, is directly applicable, requiring the disapplication of any conflicting national legislation.”
