Implementation of RED III: Infrastructure zones as a new tool for accelerating the development of electricity grids and offshore connections

Brief overview

With the Act Implementing the EU Renewable Energy Directive in the Areas of Offshore Wind Energy and Electricity Grids (Federal Law Gazette I 2025 No. 351), a key acceleration mechanism of the amended Renewable Energy Directive has been transposed into German law for the first time: the designation of infrastructure areas for grid projects.

At the heart of the concept is an upstream, area-specific planning stage in which environmental and spatial planning issues are clarified strategically. On this basis, subsequent planning approval and authorisation procedures are to be significantly simplified and shortened. A particular new feature compared to previous draft laws is the extension of the instrument to the 110 kV level of the distribution network.

This means that a further acceleration instrument under the Renewable Energy Directive (EU) 2023/2413, or ‘RED III’ for short, is being integrated into German planning and approval law for the first time, alongside the so-called renewable energy acceleration areas (Art. 15c RED III). Whilst acceleration areas concern the expansion of renewable energy installations themselves, infrastructure areas specifically target the grid infrastructure required for this purpose.

Classification and procedural status

The German Bundestag passed the Act on 4 December 2025; it was published in the Federal Law Gazette on 22 December 2025 and came into force on 23 December 2025.

Prior to this, the legislative process was formally restarted. An earlier draft from the previous legislative period had fallen victim to discontinuity. In terms of content, however, the current version largely follows on from the previous draft and revisits the system of infrastructure zones established therein.

We have already commented in detail on the basic functioning and significance of infrastructure areas in our blog post “The Designation of Infrastructure Areas” (Die Ausweisung von Infrastrukturgebieten). This newsletter builds on that and outlines the specific legal framework, the procedural mechanisms and the practical legal consequences of the law that has now been passed.

EU legal background: Article 15e RED III

Objectives of RED III

RED III aims to significantly accelerate the expansion of renewable energies and the necessary grid and storage infrastructure. A key lever for this is the front-loading of assessments and the reduction of environmental procedural requirements for selected projects.

The Directive employs a two-stage acceleration approach, namely

• acceleration zones for renewable energy generation facilities (Art. 15c RED III) and
• Infrastructure areas for grid and storage projects (Art. 15e RED III).

Both instruments are to be interlinked in terms of planning and together accelerate the integration of renewable energy into the electricity system.

Infrastructure areas under Article 15e RED III

Article 15e RED III does not oblige Member States to designate such areas, but gives them the option to designate infrastructure areas for grid and storage projects.

For projects within such areas, Member States may, in particular,

• waive the requirement for an environmental impact assessment (EIA) and
• waive the standard species protection assessment and
• under certain conditions, also omit a project-specific FFH impact assessment.

However, this is subject to the condition of qualified spatial planning, in which environmental impacts are assessed strategically and appropriate mitigation measures are already defined at this upstream planning stage.

The German legislature has decided to implement this instrument exclusively for grid projects and not to include storage projects. 

Relationship to the EU Emergency Regulation

Article 15e of RED III systematically builds on the existing acceleration mechanisms set out in Article 6 of the EU Emergency Regulation (EU) 2022/2577. However, whilst the latter was time-limited, RED III transfers the instrument into a permanent EU legal regime and further develops its content, in particular through

• stricter requirements for spatial planning and
• closer integration with spatial and network planning.

New national legal bases in the EnWG

Section 12j EnWG: Infrastructure areas for the transmission grid and offshore connections

The new Section 12j of the EnWG establishes, for the first time, a national legal basis for the designation of infrastructure areas.

In particular, this covers

• measures in the transmission grid confirmed in the grid development plan,
• offshore connection lines in the exclusive economic zone (EEZ), including converter, collection and substation platforms, as well as
• measures for optimisation and reinforcement, as well as modifications, extensions, replacements or parallel new constructions of existing lines.

The designation is made

• upon application by the project developer for onshore measures in the transmission grid and
• ex officio for offshore connection lines in the EEZ.

Section 14f EnWG: Inclusion of the 110 kV level

A key innovation is the new Section 14f EnWG, which for the first time allows the designation of infrastructure areas for 110 kV overhead lines in the electricity distribution network. A prerequisite is that the measure is included in the network expansion plan of the respective distribution system operator.

This explicitly incorporates a grid area that was previously not covered but is central to the integration of renewable energies into the RED III framework. It is precisely at this grid level that a significant proportion of renewable energy feed-in takes place. The expansion of the 110 kV level is therefore regarded as a major bottleneck for the system integration of renewable electricity generation.

Bundling of multiple measures

The Act expressly permits the bundling of several spatially and temporally related measures within a single infrastructure area – including across grid levels.

The bundling is intended in particular to

• reduce land use and
• streamline planning and approval processes.

The legislator’s aim is thus to plan infrastructure corridors in a bundled manner as early as possible, thereby minimising conflicts in the subsequent approval process.

Designation procedure: upstream and strategic

Nature of the procedure

The designation procedure is designed as a separate planning step that precedes the subsequent project authorisation. It does not serve to approve a specific project, but rather to define areas within which network expansion measures can be implemented under simplified conditions.

Infrastructure area plan and data basis

The competent authority draws up an infrastructure area plan based on existing data on the wider spatial and environmental situation. New, project-specific data collection is expressly not required. The draft also makes it clear that the designation of areas is not a spatially significant planning process within the meaning of the Spatial Planning Act; no additional spatial impact assessment takes place.

Avoidance of sensitive areas

When demarcating infrastructure areas, Natura 2000 sites, nature reserves, national parks and other specially protected areas must, as a general rule, be avoided. Inclusion is only permissible if no proportionate alternative exists.

Strategic Environmental Assessment and mitigation measures

For onshore measures, the conduct of a Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) is mandatory. For offshore connections, this may be waived if the environmental impacts have already been assessed as part of the SEA for the land-use development plan.

If the environmental assessment identifies significant risks, the authority must define appropriate and proportionate mitigation measures at the infrastructure area plan level. The Federal Network Agency is to develop a standard catalogue applicable across Germany for this purpose.

Public participation

The draft infrastructure area plan and the environmental report will be made available for public inspection. Affected authorities, network operators and the public will be given the opportunity to comment. Procedural simplifications are envisaged for offshore connection lines.

Time limits

For the first time, the draft contains binding deadlines:

• For onshore measures, designation must generally take place within 20 months of the application being submitted, and
• for offshore connections, designation must take place no later than six months after the area development plan is published.

Legal effects in the approval procedure (Section 43n EnWG)

For grid expansion projects within designated infrastructure areas, the new Section 43n of the Energy Industry Act provides for significant procedural simplifications, namely

• no EIA,
• no standard species protection assessment, and
• no project-specific FFH impact assessment.

The environmental assessment is thus brought forward from the approval procedure to the designation procedure. In addition, a mandatory screening is envisaged at the start of the planning approval procedure to identify unforeseen significant environmental impacts.

Irrespective of mitigation measures, a flat-rate compensation payment of 17,500 euros per kilometre or part thereof of the route length remains in place, which is earmarked for national species and nature conservation.

Outlook and assessment

The draft bill is largely regarded as an important step towards accelerating network expansion. At the same time, the Federal Council’s opinion shows that there remains a considerable need for clarification. The following points in particular were the subject of critical discussion:

• the time savings actually achievable given the duration of the expropriation procedure,
• potential capacity bottlenecks within the competent authorities,
• unresolved questions of interpretation regarding the inclusion of sensitive areas,
• the scope and verifiability of the strategic environmental assessment at regional level.

In addition, there are currently still considerable uncertainties regarding implementation at the state level. In particular, it remains unclear in many cases which authority is to be responsible for designating the infrastructure areas. There are also unresolved questions regarding the practical design of the screening envisaged in the approval process, as well as how the ambitious statutory deadlines can be met in administrative practice.

Against this background, there are currently considerable doubts as to whether the instrument will have a noticeable accelerating effect in the short term. Indeed, there are strong indications that the initial implementation uncertainties and institutional clarification processes could initially lead to delays.

However, based on experience with Section 43m of the Energy Industry Act (EnWG), there is cause for cautious optimism: there too, the intended acceleration effect only materialised after a certain start-up phase. Applied to the infrastructure areas, it therefore seems realistic that a noticeable acceleration effect will only materialise after initial practical experience and a certain consolidation of procedural practice.

Whether the infrastructure sectors will ultimately be able to realise their potential for acceleration will therefore depend largely on the specific application by authorities, the clarification of outstanding issues regarding jurisdiction and procedures, and further legal and practical clarification.