Optimized Environmental Licensing process for Solar Energy Projects under 100 MW

On September 30, 2025, the Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development (“MADS”) issued Decree 1033, which added a new chapter to Decree 1076 of 2015, creating a fast-track procedure for granting environmental licenses to solar power generation projects with an installed capacity between 10 MW and 100 MW (“LASolar”), expected to reduce licensing times for such projects by up to 70%.

Decree 1033 pursues three main objectives:

1. To optimize licensing timelines in order to provide greater agility and certainty for investors,
2. Reducing the administrative burden that has historically hindered the development of renewable energy, and
3. To centralize authority in the National Environmental Licensing Agency (“ANLA”) to ensure technical consistency in decision-making.

Accordingly, projects meeting the following conditions may request ANLA the LASolar and benefit from the optimized licensing procedure:

• Projects that are located in areas classified under the Cover system in categories 1, 2, or 3.
• Absence of intervention in waterbed buffer zones, except in cases requiring a waterbed occupation permit;
• Projects that are not located in marine-coastal areas.
• Absence of overlapping with protection zones for springs and water sources.
• Projects are located at least at 500 mts from other operating solar generation projects.

The main benefits of this decree include: the possibility of including connection assets in the LASolar application without the need to undergo the Alternative Environmental Assessment procedure; the elimination of the requirement to complete a forest reserve removal process, provided that projects do not require new access or road openings and are developed within type C forest reserve zones; and shorter timelines for ANLA to grant environmental licenses.

Unlike the ordinary licensing procedure, which could take months and negatively impact the financial viability of projects, the LASolar framework provides greater legal certainty and facilitates project planning by reducing regulatory uncertainty.

Decree 1033 of 2025 entered into force the day following its publication in the Official Gazette.