In the first half of 2024, an Bord Pleanála granted planning permission for a mere quarter of the volume of wind energy needed to keep Ireland on track for the government’s targets in the Climate Action Plan.

This is according to the first in a new series of quarterly reports published today by Wind Energy Ireland on the number of wind energy projects getting through the planning system.

In the first half of 2024 an Bord Pleanála granted planning permission for four wind farms with a combined estimated capacity of 228MW. Wind Energy Ireland estimates that, to achieve the 9,000MW onshore wind energy by 2030 target in the Climate Action Plan, an Bord Pleanála would have needed to approve 860MW since the start of the year.

The Board also rejected planning applications from eight wind farms with an estimated capacity of 459MW, while 30 projects totalling 1,766MW were awaiting decision at the end of Q2.

Noel Cunniffe, CEO of Wind Energy Ireland, said: “Irish people want clean, affordable and secure energy. That is what wind farms deliver but we will need more of them to provide the power required by Irish families, businesses and communities. Before we can build them, we need to first get them through the planning system.

“Unfortunately, today’s report shows that we are only getting around a quarter of the projects we need to match our energy targets through an Bord Pleanála, and many of the projects recently approved by the board have already been challenged in the courts.

“Fewer projects mean higher prices for Irish consumers, and millions more spent to import expensive fossil fuels.”

Accelerating renewables taskforce

The government has established a taskforce to accelerate the delivery of onshore renewable energy and Wind Energy Ireland is calling on this task-force to prioritise fixing the planning system.

“We need to build onshore wind farms, offshore, new solar farms, battery projects and reinforce the electricity grid in just a few short years," said Cunniffe. "Our planning system is simply not fit for purpose to achieve this.

“We have seen other countries accelerate the delivery of onshore wind energy by applying new EU regulations like the RED III Directive with Germany, for example, now granting planning permission to 1,000MW of onshore wind every month.

“We are living in twin climate and energy crises but our planning system has not changed to reflect this and, until it does, we will stay on track to fall well short of our Climate Action Plan targets.”

County Development Plans

Efforts by county councils to zone land to prevent the development of wind energy are helping to drive the increase in the number of projects rejected by an Bord Pleanála. This includes projects where the local authority changed the zoning of the land to prevent a wind farm from being built after it was announced or had applied for planning.

“There is a conflict between national and EU energy policy, which is to accelerate the delivery of the affordable, clean, secure energy Irish people want, and county development plans which, in some places, have clearly been designed to block the development of new wind farms," said Cunniffe.

“These anti-wind energy zonings will ultimately push up costs for consumers. It means that we will continue to be exposed to the volatility of international energy markets and continue to pay higher prices for imported fossil fuels.

“It will also reduce the attractiveness of Ireland as a place to do business for international companies and miss out on the economic benefits associated with local projects, including jobs and investment, council rates and community benefits.”

Improvements in speed of decisions

Wind Energy Ireland noted there has been significant investment in an Bord Pleanála in recent years and a substantial increase in the number of people working there with new board members, inspectors and support staff appointed. It is clear this is having some impact as the speed of decision-making has increased average times for decisions to be made has fallen from 79 weeks to 74 for appeals and from 106 weeks to 80 for applications direct to the board.

“While these timelines are still far longer than they need to be, we acknowledge that in some cases there has been a delay on the industry side in responding to requests from the board for further information, and the average timelines are pulled up by a small number of outlier cases.

“Overall, these figures clearly show that the increased investment in an Bord Pleanála is helping to speed up decisions.”