Strengthening Solar Permitting Capacity
Solar Project Permitting Training
Permitting remains one of the main bottlenecks to achieving Europe’s solar objectives and delivering projects on the ground (IEA, 2025). In this context, sufficient capacity and expertise at the local and regional levels become critical, as authorities are responsible for project assessment and approval.
Recognising this, InnoEnergy Skills Institute, in collaboration with SolarPower Europe, is advancing a training course for local and regional authorities under the European Solar Academy: “Solar Project Permitting: Foundations”.
This initiative equips municipalities and regional administrations with practical foundational knowledge to assess, authorise, and enable solar projects more effectively.
Why do public administrations need stronger solar permitting skills?
Local and regional authorities oversee key stages of solar project approval, including planning, assessment, consultation and permitting. Without appropriate training, many regions experience rising workloads and a lack of dedicated solar expertise.
As Europe moves towards a solar system of up to 750 GW by 2030 (SolarPower Europe, 2025), the effectiveness of local permitting systems will be critical to keeping projects on track.
To accelerate deployment, local and regional authorities require:
Building permitting capacity for solar projects
The Solar Project Permitting: Foundations course is designed to respond to a clear capacity challenge at local and regional levels.
It provides a structured and scalable training that equips local and regional authorities with the foundational knowledge needed to understand solar projects and assess permit applications more effectively.
What this means for Europe’s solar sector
The course helps public authorities approach solar project assessments with greater assurance, streamlines internal decision-making, and supports more effective collaboration with external stakeholders.
By contributing to more consistent permitting practices, it also supports greater predictability in approval timelines, higher-quality project delivery, and closer alignment between EU policy objectives and implementation on the ground.
Ecosystem insights
Permitting remains one of the main barriers slowing down solar deployment. Industry welcomes any initiative that helps improve knowledge and equip permitting authorities with tools to manage and review projects more efficiently and consistently.”
If Europe is to deliver on its renewable commitments, permitting processes must be streamlined and properly resourced. Strengthening the capacity of regional and local authorities involved in permitting is a practical step that can unlock faster, on-the-ground solar deployment across Member States.”
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