The German government has agreed to speed up the authorizations for wind turbines and industrial plants, a statement published on Friday by politicians from the ruling coalition showed.
The new law is intended to enable wind turbines and industrial plants to be built more quickly via more digitalization of the process and a reduction of bureaucratic hurdles.
Apart from wind turbines, other plants affected include rolling metal mills, foundries, waste disposal plants and hydrogen production facilities.
The changes are expected to be finalized in the coming weeks.
The coalition, which includes the Social Democrats (SPD), the Greens and the pro-business Free Democrats (FDP), wants to promote climate protection and the energy transition renewables.
Under an internal coalition agreement, renewable energy plants will get special priority for faster approval.
"The German economy has been waiting a long time for this authorization boost," said FDP legislator Judith Skudelny, who deals with digitalization issues.
Until now, application documents have filled "many folders and thousands of pages of paper," she said. Under the new law, this should no longer be the case.
Skudelny said shorter deadlines and "an early start to construction" should be possible "where environmental concerns are not or hardly affected."
SPD member of parliament Daniel Rinkert spoke of the "biggest reform of the Federal Immission Control Act in 30 years."
The changes had been the subject of debate within the coalition for months. Some concerns were whether speeding up the planning process could hurt the environment.
The German Renewable Energy Federation (BEE) spoke of a real breakthrough and said "a lot has already been gained" through the digitalization and other processes.
"A detailed analysis in the coming days will show how much sand the amendment will actually remove from the gears," BEE President Simone Peter said.