Making existing roofs available for the installation of photovoltaic panels

The Government will introduce the possibility of making the roofs of residential buildings available to the State for the installation of photovoltaic panels. Once amortised, the installation will be offered to the owner(s) of the building.

For buildings protected as historic monuments or located in ‘protected sectors’, special technical assistance will be provided to facilitate the installation of photovoltaic systems.

Promoting solar energy: priority to sealed surfaces

The Government will give priority to the development of renewable energies, particularly solar energy, on surfaces that have already been sealed. For example, the Government will encourage the installation of photovoltaic systems on car parks and parking areas of a size to be defined.

In addition, the Government will analyse the extent to which large-scale photovoltaic installations can be built along motorways and railway lines. The possibility of covering different sections of motorway with photovoltaic installations will also be analysed.

With regard to the production of energy using photovoltaic installations on agricultural land, the Government stresses that priority should be given to the construction of such installations on buildings and impermeable surfaces, while land of high agronomic value should be excluded. The Government will therefore evaluate the implementation of the call for tenders for the construction and operation of agri-photovoltaic installations before developing the related capacities.

A standard for the installation of photovoltaic systems in all new buildings

A photovoltaic installation standard for new buildings will be introduced. The costs will be pre-financed by the State if the people concerned are unable to finance the installation.

For buildings protected as historic monuments or located in ‘protected sectors’, special technical assistance will be provided to facilitate the installation of photovoltaic systems.

As part of the “Einfach Séier Erneierbar” package of measures, important steps towards expanding solar energy have indeed been initiated. Some initial concrete measures are said to have been taken, such as the government’s adoption of the draft law enabling the construction of photovoltaic installations along motorways. However, many of the commitments from the coalition agreement still show no clearly identifiable progress (initiatives related to heritage protection, provision of rooftop space, etc.), while others are only in their initial implementation phase. Therefore, in the Mecoskop, this can only be referred to as early progress.