Special Infrastructure Plans (PEI)

What Special Infrastructure Plans (PEI) are

Special Infrastructure Plans (Planes Especiales de Infraestructuras, or PEI) are development-level urban planning instruments used in Spain to organise and integrate infrastructure and service networks of supra-municipal or regional interest into the territory: high-voltage power lines, large-scale renewable energy generation plants, oil and gas pipelines, transport infrastructure or telecommunications networks. They allow these installations to be planned in without needing to amend the general planning of each affected municipality.

As a general rule, PEIs are subject to strategic environmental assessment under Spanish environmental legislation, meaning the plan's approval procedure must be coordinated with the environmental assessment procedure for the plan itself, rather than for a specific project.

When a PEI is needed

A PEI is the appropriate instrument when:

• The infrastructure or installation affects multiple municipalities and requires coherent territorial planning that cannot be resolved through each municipality's general planning independently.
• Regional legislation requires a specific planning instrument to enable certain public-interest or regional infrastructure from a planning perspective.
• The regional authority or developer needs a planning framework defining the conditions for siting, protecting and using land within the infrastructure's area.

Difference between PEI and PAE or Urban Planning Qualification

The Specific Action Project (PAE) or Urban Planning Qualification authorises the specific use of a project on a delimited plot or area. A PEI is a development planning instrument that organises the territory within the infrastructure's area and sets out the planning conditions for its implementation. A PEI has a broader territorial scope and a more complex processing procedure.

How it is processed

1. Initiation agreement for the procedure by the competent authority (regional department for territorial planning or equivalent).
2. Preparation of the scoping document for the strategic environmental assessment, describing the plan and its alternatives.
3. Consultations with authorities and the public during the strategic environmental assessment process.
4. Drafting of the PEI, including its report, planning regulations, plans and strategic environmental study.
5. Public information period for the plan and the environmental study.
6. Final approval by the competent body.

Why choose Ideas Medioambientales

We take part in drafting Special Infrastructure Plans, providing the strategic environmental assessment component and the environmental inventory of the area, working alongside planning teams and project managers. Our experience with linear infrastructure and renewable energy projects allows us to approach territorial planning with sound environmental technical criteria from the outset of the plan.

Tell us about the type of infrastructure and territorial scope and we'll advise you on whether a PEI is the right instrument and what environmental component you need to provide.