Only one new wind farm approved by An Bord Pleanála in Q3 2024

23 Oct 2024

Just three wind energy projects received planning decisions between July and September

Anti-wind County Development Plans continue to undermine Climate Action Plan

In quarter three of 2024 An Bord Pleanála granted planning permission to only a single new wind farm, around 13 per cent 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 latest quarterly report published today by Wind Energy Ireland on the number of wind energy projects getting through the planning system.

In quarter three of 2024 An Bord Pleanála granted planning permission for a single new wind farm with an estimated capacity of 63 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 492 MW during this period.

The Board also rejected planning applications from two wind farms with an estimated combined capacity of 95 MW, while 31 projects totalling 1,730 MW are awaiting decision at the end of Q3.

Noel Cunniffe, CEO of Wind Energy Ireland, said: “At An Bord Pleanála’s current rate of grants for new wind farms we will hit Ireland’s 2030 target at some point in 2044. Our broken planning system continues to be the single greatest barrier to affordable, clean, energy and to ending our dependency on imported fossil fuels.  

 “Today’s report shows that just three new wind energy projects received decisions on their planning applications during the last quarter compared with five during the same period in 2023. Only one of these projects, with a capacity of 63 MW, was approved which is disastrous when we needed around 492 MW in the last quarter to help reach our Climate Action Plan target of 9,000 MW by 2030.

“Fewer projects mean higher electricity prices for consumers, and more money spent on importing fossil fuels.”

County Development Plans

The refusal rate for projects in An Bord Pleanála has increased significantly in recent months due to anti-wind County Development Plans.

Noel Cunniffe continued: “Extra resources for An Bord Pleanála, the NPWS 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.

“But we are seeing an increase in the number of refusals of projects because of anti-wind County Development plans, where local authorities have changed the zoning of the land to prevent wind farms being built.

“Preventing the development of renewable energy projects condemns us all to paying higher prices for imported fossil fuels and undermines Ireland as an attractive location for foreign direct investment.”

Action Plan on Planning Resources 

The Government recently announced a Ministerial Action Plan on Planning Resources setting out how they plan to invest in building expertise and capacity in the planning system.

Wind Energy Ireland is calling on the Government to work with An Bord Pleanála to ensure they have the staff with the expertise required to assess and decide on an increasing volume of technically demanding planning applications for critical renewable energy infrastructure.

Noel Cunniffe said: To meet the needs of our growing economy, we need to accelerate the 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.

“The Government deserves credit for bringing this action plan forward, which we hope will be implemented as soon as possible. To deliver a zero-carbon electricity system, supporting the delivery of a renewable energy workforce, including professionals with planning expertise, is critical.”

See the full planning dashboard here

---------

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 01 July 2024.
  • The term ‘Enters Planning’ refers to projects which either applied directly to An Bord Pleanála during Q3 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 Q3.
  • The term ‘Approved’ refers to projects which received planning permission from An Bord Pleanála during Q3.
  • The term ‘Rejected’ refers to projects which were refused planning permission by An Bord Pleanála during Q3.
  • The term ‘Still in planning’ refers to projects still awaiting decision from An Bord Pleanála as of 30 September 2024.

Target Methodology

The target for An Bord Pleanála to approve during Q3 was 492 MW. The methodology for identifying the target figure is set out below.

Ireland currently has 4,780 MW of operational onshore wind energy with 572 MW in construction for a total of 5,352 MW.

We have another 1,617 MW of onshore wind energy projects with full planning permission but not yet in construction at the beginning of Q3 2024; however, allowing for attrition, we estimate of these we can only be confident in an additional 865 MW 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 may be overturned by Judicial Reviews, they may be unable to obtain a route-to-market contract or they could be located in a part of the country with a weak electricity grid making them financially unviable.

This gives us a total of 6,217 MW currently operational, in construction or which have planning permission and which we believe will be operational by the end of 2030.

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 5,363 MW on track for 2030, which means we need to get planning permission for, and build, an additional 3,637 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.

Therefore, allowing for attrition – where projects receive planning permission but cannot be built by 2030 – we need 4,922 MW to get approval before the end of December 2026. This works out as a current target of 492 MW for Q3 2024.