Slovenia has an outstanding issue regarding wind power, because local authorities do not want to build a wind farm in their area, due to noise and landscape pollution. At the same time, approvals are under way for three state-owned wind farms with combined installed capacity of 46 MW.
Therefore, the Ministry of Infrastructure submitted for public discussion a proposal for a Decree on compensation for the use of space for wind farms, which is regulated by the Law on the Promotion of Renewable Energy Sources.
The proposal was made in order to increase the social acceptability of wind farms and reduce the impact of the “not in my backyard” concept, which symbolizes the local population’s opposition to investors’ proposals for wind farms.
The fee for the use of space for the wind farms shall be paid by the producer of electricity from the wind farm to the municipality in which the
power plant is located, regardless of other public duties it is obliged to pay. The document does not specify the amount of compensation that the producer will have to pay. The base will be calculated on the basis of the average annual income of the taxpayer, and if he is in the
incentives system, it will be the product of annual support and annual production, according to the draft document. If the producer is outside the incentives system, the base will be calculated as the product of the reference and production price determined each year by the Energy Agency. The public debate on the draft decree will last until 4 February.
