EN 
PT_BR 
Last Wednesday (15), the State of Rio Grande do Sul published documentation that amends resolution no. 372/2018 of CONSEMA (State Environmental Council).
The measure published in the Official Gazette eliminates the need for licensing for the generation of electrical energy from a solar source, with an installed power of less than or equal to 5 MW, as long as it does not exceed or configure forms of clusters that occupy areas greater than 15 hectares.
The exception is for projects connected to voltages above 38 kV, which must have their own licensing, in accordance with current legislation. The other ranges of systems, above this size, remain in the same previous framework.
According to the document, the non-need for environmental licensing for projects does not eliminate the need for other urban planning authorizations for construction, expansion or operation, such as the Solid Waste Management Plan.
Paraná
Another state that updated the environmental licensing process was Paraná, which announced, this Monday (19), the program Paraná Energia Sustentável, aiming to speed up the processes for issuing environmental licensing for small businesses to generate clean energy.
The intention is to encourage the implementation of own generation mechanisms through photovoltaic panels and other renewable sources, such as wind, biogas and small hydroelectric plants (PCHs). To this end, specific resolutions were created for each of the generation modalities, in addition to an online system that will unify and speed up the licensing process.
With the resolutions, each project is treated according to its specificity, which offers, in addition to greater security on the part of the environmental agency, more agility in the analysis of processes. Previously, there were no specific regulations for each type of energy source.
