Government plans to scale up renewable energy are being undermined by some local authorities with “anti-wind county development plans”, which has resulted in only one wind farm securing planning approval from An Bord Pleanála in recent months, according to Wind Energy Ireland (WEI).
In quarter three of 2024 An Bord Pleanála granted planning permission to a single new wind farm, representing about 13 per cent of the volume of wind energy needed to keep Ireland on track for the Government’s climate plan targets, the wind industry body said.
Based on current planning approval rates, this would mean 2030 wind farm targets would not be achieved until 2044, it added.
In its latest update on wind energy projects getting through the planning system published on Thursday, it said the approved wind farm had an estimated capacity of 63 megawatts (MW). However, to achieve the 9,000MW onshore wind energy by 2030 target in the Government’s climate plan, An Bord Pleanála would have needed to approve 492MW during this period – 1,000MW is enough to power more than 1.8 million homes.
The board also rejected planning applications from two wind farms with an estimated combined capacity of 95MW, while 31 projects totalling 1,730MW are awaiting decision at the end of Q3.
“At An Bord Pleanála’s current rate we will hit Ireland’s 2030 target at some point in 2044,” said WEI chief executive Noel Cunniffe.
“Our broken planning system continues to be the single greatest barrier to affordable, clean energy and to ending our dependency on imported fossil fuels. Fewer projects mean higher electricity prices for consumers, and more money spent on importing fossil fuels ... and undermines Ireland as an attractive location for foreign direct investment,” he added.
The refusal rate for projects had increased significantly in recent months due to anti-wind county development plans, he said.
“Extra resources for An Bord Pleanála, the National Parks & Wildlife Service and other planning bodies are very welcome and we hope to see an improvement in decision timelines. It is also encouraging to see An Bord Pleanála approve several changes to projects in the last quarter to enable older projects that already had planning permission to move forward,” Mr Cunniffe said.
Refusals of projects were linked to “where local authorities have changed the zoning of the land to prevent wind farms being built”.
The Government has announced a ministerial action plan on planning resources setting out how they plan to invest in building expertise and capacity in the planning system. WEI said it should ensure An Bord Pleanála has the staff with required expertise to assess and decide on an increasing volume of technically demanding planning applications for critical renewable energy infrastructure.
Mr Cunniffe said: “To meet the needs of our growing economy, we need to accelerate delivery of new onshore and offshore wind farms and reinforce the electricity grid in just a few short years. We are living through twin climate and energy crises, but our planning system has not changed to reflect this and, until it does, Ireland will struggle to grow our economy and hit climate targets.”
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