An Bord Pleanála approved a quarter of the wind energy needed in the first half of 2024 to reach climate targets

An Bord Pleanála approved a quarter of the wind energy needed in the first half of 2024 to reach climate targets

• Just four wind energy projects approved in the first half of the year
• Revisions to County Development Plans have put several projects at risk

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

The Board also rejected planning applications from eight wind farms with an estimated capacity of 459 MW, while 30 projects totalling 1,766 MW 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 Task-force

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

Noel Cunniffe said: “We need to build onshore wind farms, offshore, new solar farms, battery projects and reinforce the electricity grid in just a few short years. 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 1,000 MW 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.

Noel Cunniffe continued: “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.

“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 decisionmaking has increased.

Noel Cunniffe continued: “We’ve had 12 decisions on wind farm applications in the first half of 2024 which compares with three for the same period last year. The 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.”

See the full planning dashboard 

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Notes

All of these projects are either direct applications to An Bord Pleanála, classed as strategic infrastructure, or have been appealed to An Bord Pleanála following a decision by the local authority. Decisions made by County Councils are not included and nor are decisions on amendments to approved wind energy projects.

Terminology

• The term ‘Already in planning’ refers to projects which were already with An Bord Pleanála on 1 January 2024.
• The term ‘Enters Planning’ refers to projects which either applied directly to An Bord Pleanála during Q1 and Q2 or were referred there after a decision at County Council level.
• The term ‘In Planning’ refers to the total number of projects with An Bord Pleanála during Q1 and Q2.
• The term ‘Approved’ refers to projects which received planning permission from An Bord Pleanála during Q1 and Q2.
• The term ‘Rejected’ refers to projects which were refused planning permission by An Bord Pleanála during Q1 and Q2.
• The term ‘Still in planning’ refers to projects still awaiting decision from An Bord Pleanála as of 30 June 2024.

Target Methodology

The target for An Bord Pleanála to approve during Q1 and Q2 was 860 MW. The methodology for identifying the target figure is set out below.

Ireland currently has 4,780 MW of operational onshore wind energy with 568 MW in construction for a total of 5,348 MW.

We have 1,410MW of onshore wind energy projects with full planning permission, however, we estimate an attrition rate of 50 per cent, leaving us with an additional 705 MW we are confident will be built by the end of 2030.

The other projects will not be built before 2030 and may not be built at all as their permissions are overturned by Judicial Reviews, they are unable to obtain a route-to-market contract or they are located in a part of the country with a weak electricity grid making them financially unviable.

This gives us a total of 6,053 MW but, of these, 854 MW of existing projects face the possibility of being decommissioned by the end of 2030 as their planning permissions expire. This is explained in more detail in a recent Wind Energy Ireland report which is available here.

Consequently, we have 5,199 MW on track for 2030, which means we need to get planning permission for, and build, an additional 3,801 MW to reach our 9,000 MW target. We believe that projects which receive planning permission after 31 December 2026 cannot be built in time to deliver by 2030.

This means 3,801 MW of wind energy projects must clear the planning system by the end of 2030. We are, somewhat optimistically, assuming that 75 per cent of the wind energy capacity facing decommissioning can have its planning permission extended or repower.

Therefore, allowing for attrition – where projects receive planning permission but cannot be built by 2030 – we need 5,156 MW to get approval before the end of December 2026. This works out as a current target of 430 MW a quarter, or 860 MW for the first half of 2024.