Definitions in energy law are of utmost importance. Naming incorrectly one or another installation, construction, project and bringing them under a different definition would mean applying a wrongful procedure for their implementation. The latter means developing the relevant project in violation of the law which leads to the nullity of the acts on its authorization, and hence to the illegality of the construction.
The regulatory framework concerning the technical infrastructure, the elements of the technical infrastructure, the energy facilities and the types thereof is scattered in various laws: the Energy Act (EA), the Spatial Development Act (SDA), the Energy from Renewable Sources Act (ERSA), but in recent years this regulation is increasingly clear, legally logical and in sync.
The important distinctions to be made are those between „technical infrastructure“ and „elements of technical infrastructure“; „energy facility“ and where, in their turn, the site and linear energy facilities defined under EA fall; to what extent there is a match between an energy facility and technical infrastructure.
SDA provides for a legal definition of „Technical infrastructure“ in p. 31 of its Additional Provisions. It
„is a system of buildings, facilities and linear engineering networks of transport, water supply and sewerage, electric supply, central heating, gas supply, electronic communications, hydro-meliorations, treatment of waste and geo-protection activity.“
„Technical infrastructure“ as a concept is the broadest term. It covers, on the one hand, „elements of the technical infrastructure“ and the energy facilities within the meaning of the EA.
What are the „elements of the technical infrastructure“ is also comprehensively defined by Art. 64, para. 1 of SDA, namely:
„1. the transport technical infrastructure and the facilities at it (bridges, tunnels, overpasses, underpasses, railway crossings etc.);
2. the transferring (bringing in and taking out) conduits (networks) and the facilities at them in not regulated territory;
3. the transferring (bringing in and taking out) conduits (networks) and the facilities at them in regulated territory;
4. the distributing conduits and the distribution devices and facilities at them (transformer posts, electric substations, treatment stations for drinking and waste waters, step-down and distribution stations etc.), including the joining conduits to the building installations and the common means for measurement;
5. hydromelioration transferring (bringing in and taking out) conduits (networks) and the facilities thereto and the hydromelioration constructions for prevention from the damaging effects of the waters;
6. the transmitting stations and the remaining physical infrastructure intended for the deployment of electronic communications networks;
7. coast reclaiming, coast protection and geo-protective constructions;
8. waste treatment facilities and systems.“
Pursuant to § 1, Item 23 of the Additional Provisions of the EA
„Energy facility“ is a facility or a set of facilities, with the purpose of producing electric and/or thermal energy of a certain capacity, storage of electric energy, extraction or storage of oil or natural gas, transmission, as well as conversion of the parameters or type of electric and heat energy and natural gas, oil or oil products through networks, as well as their auxiliary networks and facilities, distribution of electricity, heat energy or natural gas through networks, as well as their auxiliary networks and facilities, a publicly accessible charging point or a collection of such points located on a single land property with a provided and installed capacity equal to or greater than 1.2 MW without the installations of customers such as movable, rammed and installed without foundations energy objects are objects of the technical infrastructure.“
The law does not accept movable sites, generally defined, as energy facilities, but defines them as facilities of the technical infrastructure and thereby directs that their regulation is different from that of the elements of the technical infrastructure. By argument to the contrary, if it was the opposite, the legislator would have directly used the term „elements of the technical infrastructure“.
On the other hand, energy facilities may be divided into linear and site ones, and different legal regulations are also applied to them. Thus, the Additional Provisions of EA, item 31b. define „Linear energy facility“ as
„an underground and / or overhead line or set of conduits, including structural elements and / or structures permanently attached to the ground, as well as waterworks of hydraulic structures intended for:
a) transmission or distribution of electricity, heat, natural gas, petroleum or petroleum products through transmission or distribution networks;
b) production of electricity and / or heat;
c) transport of the extracted oil and natural gas from a site for extraction to site energy sites.“
Item 41 of the same Additional Provisions defines „Site energy facilities“ as
„buildings and the energy capacities permanently affixed to them or to a lot, excluding the line parts, intended for performance of the activities such as generation, storage, transmission and distribution of electricity, heat and natural gas, energy resource extraction, as well as a publicly accessible charging point or a collection of such points located on a single land property with a provided and installed capacity equal to or greater than 1.2 MW.“
For completeness of the presentation, it should also be mentioned item 21 of the Additional Provisions of the EA, according to which „Electric power lines“ are
„overhead or cable facilities for connecting of electric fixtures and intended for transmission, transit, or distribution of electricity, conforming to „linear engineering electric supply networks“ as defined by the Spatial Development Act.“
Last but not least, it is important for the regulation of the placement of industrial batteries, etc. 80 „Movable site“ is
„a site that does not have the characteristics of a building and can be moved into the space after it has been separated from the surface and from the networks of the technical infrastructure without losing its individualization and / or the possibility to be used elsewhere with the same or with the same purpose as that used for the site from which it is separated, its placement and / or removal does not permanently change the substance or mode of use of the land as well as the site on which it is placed or from which it is separated. The removable site may be temporarily secured to the terrain by allowing the removal of the surface layer by a pre-assembled or monolithic structural element which is an integral part of the displaceable object and is intended to guarantee the structural and spatial stability of the object and cannot serve as a basis for building construction.“
