Why The Wind Energy Planning Is Slow In Ireland

“Irish people want clean, affordable and secure energy”, a statement given by the CEO of Wind Energy Ireland, Noel Cunniffe.

The news came up when An Bord Pleanala gave permission for only a quarter of the volume of projects based on wind energy in Ireland. The projects are a source of generation of great wind energy to keep the economy of Ireland running smoothly in the first half of the year.

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According to Wind Energy Ireland, a combined capacity of 229 MW got a thumbs up between January to June. This is far less than the quantity predicted by the year 2030 to gain a green light for a pre-determined capacity.

By pre-determined capacity, it means from the beginning of the year 2024, the planning board needs to finalise at least a capacity of 860 MW. It is the target that Ireland needs to achieve by 2030 to obtain 9,000 MW of onshore wind.

The wind energy planning in the country is being delayed since 30 projects in total still have not got a go-ahead from the authorities. The projects had the combined capacity to generate 1,766 MW of wind energy till the middle of the year.

Cunniffe’s Views on Wind Energy Planning in Ireland

Noel Cunniffe is still in dismay with the rejection of the board for eight wind farms that were expected to generate 459 MW of wind energy this year. As Cunniffe cited Irish people need affordable clean energy, he stresses the need for more wind farms, and that too, very soon.

He said, “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”.

Cunniffe was disappointed that the current wind energy report not only disclosed a production of only a quarter of the required energy but several of the projects are not even through to the court, which is a clear depiction of sluggishness from An Bord Pleanala.

An Bord Pleanala has been given increased authority in this matter recently. The organisation is a chief part of the Government reforms within the planning system. It has been delaying numerous other projects since the beginning of this year and even apologised for their delay.

Mr Cunniffe pronounced that the issue is not their apology; the problem still lies in the reason for such deferment that is creating a hindrance in the country’s steps towards sustainability and access of people to clean energy.

The firm stated the lengthy backlog was mainly due to significant turnover of the staff. However, currently, the speed of decision-making has improved, as admitted by Wind Energy Ireland. Now the process saw a fall of applications to the Board from 106 to 80 and 79 to 74 for appeals.

Noel Cunniffe is of the view that if the government has appointed the staff of a major institution for the delivery of decisions that are constantly being delayed, they must prioritise them by responding to the requests from the Board. The average timelines are constantly lagging due to minuscule outsider cases.

Noel Cunniffe emphasised that wind energy projects should be on the top priority list by An Bord Pleanala for building onshore and offshore wind farms, new solar farms and different battery projects. He cited that the planning system does not seem apt for this purpose since Ireland’s need of the time is asking to achieve such goals in a few short years.

Mr Cunniffe claimed some local authorities are keeping the land for wind projects to themselves, slacking off the progress on the projects’ approval. The authorities are trying to change the zoning of land to prevent the building of wind farms.