Working through planning challenges on the road ahead

By Donal O’Sullivan, VP for Development & Offshore, Statkraft Ireland

Every day takes us a step closer to 2030 and the ambitious targets laid out in the Climate Action Plan. Companies like Statkraft are driving Ireland’s energy transition, rolling out the renewable projects that will enable the country to achieve its goals.

Between the targets set out by the Government and our own plans to deliver 3 GW of renewable energy by the end of the decade, now is the time to harness every megawatt of green energy from Ireland’s own natural resources. Since 2018, when Statkraft first entered the Irish market, our onshore wind development has continued to grow. Once we have completed our 56 MW Cushaling Wind Project next year, we will have delivered 200 MW of onshore wind energy to the grid. We have already built two grid-scale batteries, while work on our third – Ireland’s first four-hour battery – is underway.

We are also leading the way with solar, having built more than 320 MW of solar projects and with two more projects totalling 210 MW under construction.

Our ambitions for offshore are high too; earlier this year, our 500 MW NISA project – which is being developed in partnership with Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners – became Ireland’s first offshore wind farm with a route to market to apply for planning permission.

Backbone

Yet onshore wind has always been the backbone of Ireland’s energy transition. Today, there are nearly 400 wind farms across the island – a reflection of the expertise developed over the past three decades. Onshore wind remains the most cost-effective form of renewables in Ireland.

However, as the need for the speedier rollout of more onshore wind continues to rise, so too does the number of projects being rejected by the planning authority. The Government has set a 9 GW target of onshore wind for 2030. On that basis, 860 MW of onshore projects should have been granted planning permission in the first half of this year. Just one quarter of that target was approved.

These are the findings of a Wind Energy Ireland report published in July, which also revealed that 8 projects totalling 459 MW were also rejected. Moreover, thirty proposed wind farms with an estimated capacity of 1,766 MW were still awaiting decision from An Bord Pleanála in June.

The same report also revealed that efforts by county councils to zone land to prevent the development of wind energy are fuelling the rising number of projects rejected. This includes cases where councils changed the zoning of the land to prevent a wind farm from being built either after it was announced, or a planning application had been submitted.

Overcoming challenges

This is a challenge – but it is one that can be overcome. To maintain our current pace of development and meet our targets, we need timely permissions and a strong commitment to climate action from local authorities and An Bord Pleanála. For this, it is important that the planning authorities, including An Bord Pleanála, use their discretion to overrule County Development Plans where it is clear that a scientific plan-led approach to zoning areas has not been used.

We are hopeful that the recently passed Planning and Development Act will deal with some of these challenges head on. Robust and transparent planning decision-making is vital, and there must be a more courageous approach taken to building renewable energy projects.

We have the technologies, policies, expertise and natural resources – but it will take collaboration and cooperation between the renewable energy sector, the Government and State bodies to reach our 2030 goals.

Working together to accelerate the deployment of renewable energy projects, therefore, is the only way we will reach our destination with time to spare. The end of the decade is closer than we realise.