Kia EIA/VIA · Italian permitting advisory
The VIA will judge your site.
We judge it first.
Projects entering the Italian VIA (Valutazione di Impatto Ambientale) process face a real risk of rejection on landscape and cultural-heritage grounds. Getting this wrong wastes large sums in development spend and delays financial close — often after the land contract is already signed.
What we do
We evaluate your land the way the Ministero della Cultura would.
Pre-VIA constraint screening
Before submission, we identify the environmental and landscape constraints on your land — and the buffer and setback zones that come with them — reading the site the way the MIC (Ministero della Cultura) will during the VIA process.
Aree idonee coverage — before you sign
We assess how much of a target site falls within suitable areas (aree idonee) under the current national and regional rules — before a land contract is signed, when the answer can still change your decision.
Cumulative impact assessment
We perform a cumulative impact assessment across existing and consented plants in the study area — a technically difficult exercise that is often overlooked by other participants in the VIA process.
Why screen early
Early screening can save millions of euros of wasted development spend, de-risk the investment decision and inform a better siting and permitting strategy — by surfacing fatal flaws while walking away is still cheap, and by shaping the submission where the project should proceed.
The framework, as of July 2026
How Italian suitable-area rules work
Italian siting rules now rest on the Testo Unico Rinnovabili (D.Lgs. 190/2024), as amended by D.L. 175/2025 and its conversion law, Legge 15 gennaio 2026, n. 4. Its Art. 11-bis sets a national catalogue of areas suitable by law — repowering sites, remediation sites, former quarries and mines, closed landfills, railway, motorway and airport land, and, for PV, industrial sites with their 350 m "Solar Belt" and 300 m motorway strips — and binding criteria for the additional areas each region designates by its own law. Ground-mounted PV in agricultural zones is otherwise restricted, with agrivoltaico on elevated modules remaining the main route, subject to an asseverated declaration by a qualified professional that at least 80% of gross saleable agricultural production is preserved. Inside a suitable area, procedures accelerate and the landscape opinion becomes obligatory but non-binding — yet, as the Ministry of Culture's own January 2026 circular stresses, there is no automatic approval: the Soprintendenza still weighs in, and landscape quality still decides marginal cases. This is precisely where screening matters.
The moving parts — a short timeline
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Dec 2024
D.Lgs. 190/2024 — the Testo Unico Rinnovabili (Testo Unico FER) consolidates renewable-energy authorisation rules.
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May 2025
The GSE Piattaforma Aree Idonee (PAI) and the renewables acceleration-zones map (a RED III, EU 2023/2413 concept) go online on 21 May 2025.
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Nov 2025 → Jan 2026
D.L. 175/2025 ("DL Transizione 5.0") rewrites the suitable-areas regime; converted into Legge 15 gennaio 2026, n. 4 (G.U. n. 15, 20 January 2026), introducing Art. 11-bis with binding national criteria for aree idonee on land.
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Jan 2026
MIC Circolare n. 2 of 29 January 2026 clarifies how the landscape opinion works in suitable areas: obligatory but non-binding — with no automatic approval.
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2026, ongoing
Regions legislate their own additional suitable areas within national criteria (0.8%–3% of regional utilised agricultural area) — e.g. Emilia-Romagna L.R. 5/2026 — so the picture is national + regional and still moving.
This area of law changes every few months. Every engagement includes verification of the framework in force at the time of the assessment.
Constraints we check
- Vincoli paesaggistici and cultural-heritage assets under D.Lgs. 42/2004, including UNESCO sites
- Buffer / setback zones from protected assets (up to 500 m for PV, 3 km for wind, as binding limits on regional suitable-area planning)
- Aree idonee coverage under Art. 11-bis of D.Lgs. 190/2024 — national catalogue plus your region’s own suitable-area law
- The 350 m “Solar Belt” around qualifying industrial sites and the 300 m motorway-adjacent strip
- Compromised-area categories: former quarries and mines, closed landfills, remediation sites, railway, motorway and airport land
- Agrivoltaico eligibility: elevated modules and the asseverated ≥80% gross saleable production (PLV) requirement
- Cumulative impact with existing and consented plants in the study area
We cross-check against the GSE Piattaforma Aree Idonee (PAI) and acceleration-zone maps, the relevant regional suitable-area law, and the landscape plans that apply to your site.
Credentials
We know how the reviewer thinks
Our team's experience at the Ministry of Culture, and our access to live and ongoing VIA projects in Italy, keep our screening calibrated against how sites are actually being evaluated — not how they were evaluated two reforms ago.
Included free
Layout + energy forecast, on us
Engage us for EIA/VIA screening and we deliver the project layout and energy forecast free of charge — or review your existing ones. Your permitting screening and your technical basis stay consistent from day one.
Know your site's permitting risk before you pay for it.
Screen my site before VIADisclaimer. The content of this page is provided for general information only and does not constitute legal advice. The Italian regulatory framework for renewable energy siting and environmental permitting is subject to frequent change at both national and regional level; statements above reflect our understanding as of July 2026. Every engagement includes verification of the framework in force at the time of the assessment.