A new report by Wind Energy Ireland (WEI) has said that 76 wind farms are at risk of shutting down as they have reached the end of their planning permission lifetime, with the turbines set to be dismantled by 2030 if regulations aren’t updated.
The facilities under threat make up 20% of Ireland’s installed wind capacity at 854MW; removing them will make reaching climate targets almost impossible, as well as making Ireland increasingly reliant on energy imports – according to WEI.
The report – published on June 26 – was produced by planning and environmental consultancy MKO and showed that the wind farms would need to either extend their planning permissions or repower to avoid being scrapped.
WEI CEO Noel Cunniffe noted that the end of a wind farm’s planning permission did not mean that the facility had to stop operations: “Ireland’s oldest wind farm is 32 years old this year and still producing power. Many of these wind farms which are under threat could operate for five, 10 or even more years,” he said.
Cunniffe added that he believed future energy guidelines needed to be published before the end of the year to make sure similar problems did not occur in future – as well as making it easier for wind farm owners to “extend the duration of their planning permissions,” allowing wind farms to continue operations.
Currently, the Irish planning system requires wind farm operators to apply for planning permission to extend the life of their facilities – an expensive and time-consuming process which can end up unsuccessful.
The planning permissions usually contain a condition that limits wind farms’ operational life cycle to a maximum of 25 years, a period that most can outlast.
New guidelines
Additional suggestions in the latest Wind Energy Guidelines – set to be published this year – also say that planning permission lifetimes for onshore wind farms should be increased to match the outlook of the Commission for the Regulation of Utilities, which states that the operational lifetime for a wind farm’s grid connection should be 50 years.
WEI added to this, saying EU law was favourable towards granting planning permissions for repowering applications, and that it wanted this to be inserted into the revised Planning and Development Bill of 2023.
Projects such as one awaiting planning permission in Barnesmore, Donegal would benefit from this, with the initiative aiming to repower an existing 25-turbine 15MW wind farm by replacing the assets with 13 turbines able to generate 60-70MW.
Despite this, concerns regarding environmental impact remain within local populations, where some onshore wind farms have been opposed in the past.
Larger, more powerful turbines installed as part of a repowering project could be controversial, providing ammunition to environmental groups with the potential to object to the continuation of a wind farm under current laws.
Nonetheless, WEI will push for the government to put policies in place to underpin repowering initiatives, arguing that without reforming action Ireland could be left with less wind farms in the future than it has now.
Cunniffe said: “There is simply no reason, in the middle of twin climate and energy crises, to decommission operational wind farms because of planning restrictions, unsupported by evidence, imposed decades ago.”
Recommended for you
