EasyPermits simplifies the approval process for new wind farms

EasyPermits beta system was first tested at the annual WindEurope conference in 2023

One of the biggest obstacles to the spread of renewable technologies? The authorization process. In Italy, as in the rest of Europe, slow and complex procedures are slowing down the construction of new wind and photovoltaic plants. And despite the regulatory interventions implemented to simplify permitting, the road to large plants is not yet clear of obstacles. Suffice it to say that, currently, at the continental level about 80 GW of new wind farms are blocked in cumbersome bureaucratic processes.

Waiting to see if the new RED III directive will really have a positive effect on the timing of projects, there are those in Europe who have created a support tool for new wind farms. Let’s talk about Amazon Web Services (AWS), Accenture and WindEurope who together developed EasyPermits. What is it? A digital platform powered by AWS services that can help authorization authorities and developers automate workflows, optimize requests, and provide process transparency. For an end result that benefits everyone.

“The new EU directives on renewables require EU countries to digitize permitting processes within two years: this is a turning point“, explains Malgosia Bartosik, vice CEO of WindEurope. “More wind energy projects are needed to reach the new EU 2030 target of 42.5% renewable energy. Now we must equip municipalities, urban planners and licensing authorities with digital tools to achieve this goal“.

How will EasyPermits help new wind farms in Europe?

EasyPermits is an end-to-end digital solution that leverages several Amazon tools, such as from Lambda, the serverless event-based computing service; or Textract, a machine learning service that automatically extracts text, handwriting and data from scanned documents. Its aim is to simplify processes that today mostly occur manually and involve coordination with different authorisation authorities.

In this context, the platform can enable local, regional or national agencies to reduce processing times through the digitisation and automation of processes. At the same time, it can help developers submit applications for new wind farms through request templates, automated checklists, workflow activation, and stakeholder notifications. Above all, EasyPermits collects, manages and processes all documents in a single repository.