Monthly Report

Aomori Prefecture’s Coexistence Ordinance to apply to 500kW+ wind and 2MW+ solar projects, draft outline shows

July 11, 2024
Aomori Prefecture
The new ordinance will spell out zoning and consensus-building rules for renewable project developers.

Aomori Prefecture revealed a draft outline of Coexistence Ordinance, which will set zoning and consensus-building rules for renewable energy asset development. The draft calls for making the rules applicable to wind assets 500kW and larger and solar assets 2MW and larger.

Based on the current draft, the new ordinance will divide the prefecture into four types of zones: adjustment, coexistence, conservation, and protected. Developing renewable energy projects in protected zones will not be possible, while doing so in conservation zones will only be possible with the permission of the prefecture and reclassification of the areas where power plants will be developed to coexistence zones.

The new consensus-building procedure will require developers to explain the details of their projects to the local community as early in the project planning process as possible.

Committee on the Coexistence of Nature, Regions, and Renewable Energy, which was established by the prefecture after it enacted its Initiative for Coexistence of the Natural Environment and Renewable Energy on September 12, 2023, is currently discussing and developing the draft of the ordinance. The committee held its first meeting on May 2, 2024, and the draft outline of the ordinance was presented on its third meeting, on July 8, 2024.

At its fourth meeting, scheduled to take place after late August 2024, the committee plans to present a draft zoning map detailing how the prefecture would be divided among the four types of zones.

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