Regarding the energy transition in Italy, there is "regulatory chaos." Regional President Alessandra Todde said this after the Constitutional Court struck down the Sardinian law regarding areas suitable for the construction of renewable energy plants. The law, she claims, was passed in December 2024 to "govern, not submit. To bring order, establish criteria, and defend a territory that cannot be considered an empty space available for any intervention decided elsewhere."
Now the Constitutional Court has ruled that the entire framework of that law is unconstitutional : a Region, the ruling states, cannot block wind and photovoltaic development in certain areas simply by declaring them unsuitable, as first maintained by the Regional Executive and then the Regional Council. After all, it was already known: all the decisions on permits adopted by ministerial offices—approving or rejecting the application—were made without taking Sardinian legislation into account. But in Viale Trento (and then in Via Roma) they had decided to follow the line later struck down by the constitutional judges anyway.
Todde says: "I take note" of the sentence filed this morning.
But he adds: « I say it clearly, this ruling does not remove the political issue that Sardinia has posed, rather it makes it even more evident.
The energy transition isn't a technical issue to be resolved administratively. It's a political choice that changes territories, landscapes, local economies, and social relationships. And it can't be dumped on the regions and municipalities within a fragmented and contradictory national framework.
Law 20 "arose precisely from this need: to govern, not to submit. It also complied with a specific requirement of Legislative Decree 199: the Regions were required to identify suitable areas through regional law." This meant, according to the law, identifying the areas in which accelerated procedures for plant approval could be adopted.
