County councils have contributed to a rise in the number of wind farm projects rejected by An Bord Pleanála this year by zoning and rezoning land to prevent new projects, a lobby group for the wind energy sector has said.
Wind Energy Ireland has published the first in what it said it will be a new series of quarterly reports on the number of wind energy projects moving through the planning system.
An Bord Pleanála approved four projects capable of generating 228 megawatts (MW) of energy in the first half of the year and rejected eight capable of generating a total of 459MW, the report states.
Some 30 projects, meanwhile, capable of delivering 1,766MW were still awaiting decision at the end of the second quarter.
The generation capacity of the four projects approved represents just a quarter of what it is needed for the Republic to meet its 2030 targets, Wind Energy Ireland said.
The body estimates that to reach the 9,000MW of onshore wind energy by 2030 targeted in the Government’s Climate Action Plan, An Bord Pleanála would have needed to approve 860MW of new projects since the start of the year.
Efforts by county councils to prevent the development of wind farms has contributed to an increase in the number of projects being rejected by An Bord Pleanála, the body said.
“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,” the report states.
Noel Cunniffe, chief executive of Wind Energy Ireland, said there was a clear tension between national and EU climate policy on the one hand and on the other, “county development plans which, in some places, have clearly been designed to block the development of new wind farms”.
He said: “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.”
Wind Energy Ireland said the average decision time at An Bord Pleanála had fallen from 79 weeks to 74 for appeals, and from 106 weeks to 80 for applications directly 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,” said Mr Cunniffe.
However, he said the planning system was “not fit for purpose” and more investment is required in An Bord Pleanála if the 2030 targets are going to be met.
Wind energy met 25 per cent of Ireland’s electricity demand last month, up 5 per cent on the previous year, according to a separate Wind Energy Ireland report published earlier this month.
