Environmental licensing of wind farms in the Global North and South: A review of guidelines and new proposals

Abstract

The production of renewable energy through wind farms is one of the main strategies for the energy transition. However, the licensing system for this activity is not yet well established or contains gaps in many countries, which allows for the occurrence or intensification of negative environmental impacts. This article aims to conduct a systematic review of the environmental licensing processes for onshore and offshore wind farms in the Global North and South over the past ten years, in order to understand which legal requirements have been effective for environmental protection and what is lacking in the regulatory documents governing this type of enterprise to make it a more sustainable practice. The strategies used were: (i) the collection of information from the legislation of the analyzed countries, environmental or energy agencies, scientific publications, international agreements, technical reports, etc., and (ii) a systematic review of articles published in the last 10 years on the impacts of wind power and its licensing around the world. As a result, the main problems observed in regulation were the absence of strong and specific laws on environmental licensing, the non-mandatory nature of Environmental Impact Assessments for wind activities or small-scale wind farms, delays in the licensing process, and the dispersion of license issuance across different agencies. In conclusion, it is emphasized that standardizing the wind power licensing process with the requirement of environmental impact studies, public participation, and efficient monitoring would be an appropriate method to prevent impacts resulting from licensing failures.