The Renewable Energy Expansion Acceleration Act – a boost for the energy transition in Austria?

Briefing

Long awaited in Austria, the draft bill on the Renewable Energy Expansion Acceleration Act (EABG) was finally presented on 9 September 2025 and referred for a six-week review period. The declared aim of the EABG, which is intended to implement key provisions of the RED III Directive (EU 2023/2413), is to significantly accelerate the expansion of energy transition projects, such as wind power and photovoltaic plants, electrolysers and electrical transmission systems.

Key instruments for achieving this ambitious goal include streamlining and accelerating approval procedures by introducing a fully concentrated approval procedure (“one-stop shop”) even below the EIA (environmental impact assessment) thresholds, designating acceleration and infrastructure areas, and introducing a new screening procedure.

We have taken a closer look at the details of the current draft bill:

Key instruments for accelerating procedures

For energy transition projects (i.e. plants for generating energy from renewable sources, plants for converting electricity into hydrogen or synthetic gas, energy storage facilities and electrical transmission lines) that are not subject to mandatory environmental impact assessments, the new EABG approval regime will apply in future. Instead of a multitude of approval procedures, all necessary federal and state administrative regulations will be applied in a single approval procedure (“one-stop shop”).

In addition to the standard procedure, the EABG provides for a simplified procedure or notification procedure for certain energy transition projects. One positive aspect is the exemption from approval and notification for certain projects, such as building-integrated and rooftop PV systems, certain open-space and agri-PV systems, and certain battery storage systems.

For energy transition projects located within acceleration areas and route corridors, the EABG will in future allow the environmental impact assessment, nature impact assessment and compliance with species protection measures in accordance with the FFH or Birds Directive to be waived if a screening procedure is conducted. The prerequisite is that the project – only after measures or compensation payments for species protection programmes have been prescribed – is not expected to have any significant unforeseen adverse environmental effects, whereby the assessment is limited to an approximate assessment.

In future, energy transition projects will be presumed by law to be in the overriding public interest, which will tip the balance in favour of the projects when weighing up interests in the approval procedure. The instrument of procedural structuring, already familiar from the EIA procedure, including the possibility of setting deadlines for further submissions by the parties, will now also be anchored in the EABG approval regime.

Acceleration areas, clear corridor routes and expansion targets for the federal states

In Austria, the designation of acceleration areas pursuant to Art. 15c RED III Directive is the responsibility of the individual federal states. In future, corridor routes for power lines are also to be defined and kept free based on environmental assessments. Projects located in such areas benefit from the procedural simplifications already outlined above (waiver of environmental impact assessment, nature impact assessment and compliance with species protection measures) under the EABG.

In future, the EABG will set expansion targets for the federal states in the form of production benchmarks based on the annual amount of electricity generated from renewable sources, considering existing plant capacities, to contribute to the achievement of Austria’s climate targets under the Paris Climate Agreement. However, the EABG does not contain any specific guidelines for achieving these targets or sanctions for non-compliance with the expansion targets.

Our conclusion

The EABG contains important provisions to counteract the increasingly frequent and sometimes massive delays in approval processes and to further promote the expansion of renewable energies in Austria. It is a step in the right direction, with the provisions on speeding up procedures, such as the concentration and structuring of procedures, the new screening procedure and the legal anchoring of overriding public interest, being particularly welcome. However, whether the EABG will ultimately deliver on its stated potential to accelerate the energy transition will depend not least on the resources available (staff, experts, etc.) at the authority level, which can already have a significant impact on the duration of approval procedures.

Despite these welcome new regulations, there is a need to refine and adapt individual provisions: at present, the state expansion targets are only non-binding, with the specified values falling noticeably short of the expectations of the renewable energy industry, which is calling for them to be raised. The renewable energy industry is also calling for more precise specifications, for example for the screening procedure (currently there are no criteria for the depth of the review) and the definition of acceleration areas.

It remains to be seen whether and, if so, what changes and refinements the current EABG draft will undergo in the further legislative process. However, some initial key insights are already evident: securing project sites (in acceleration areas) in a forward-looking and timely manner will become just as important in future as participation in the strategic environmental assessment and careful preparation of the submission documents.

Our experts will be happy to keep you updated and support you in the planning and implementation of energy transition projects.

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