Up to 2022, there had been an approval rating of up to 80pc for wind farm projects that went to the planning appeals authority, but that has dropped to about 30pc.
According to figures published by Wind Energy Ireland, so far this year ABP has granted permission to four projects but refused eight. Last year, 11 were approved and eight refused, while in 2022 the figures were eight approved with only one refused.
Between 2019 and 2021, permission for 15 wind farms was granted while only three were refused.
One reason for the dramatic change appears to be the growing anti-wind farm sentiment among councillors, which has led to some county development plans being revised in order to block projects.
“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,” Wind Energy Ireland 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 lobby group says that in the first half of this year, ABP approved only a quarter of the wind energy that would be needed to keep Ireland on track to reach its targets in the Climate Action Plan.
The four projects approved this year had a combined capacity of about 228mw, but Wind Energy Ireland says that to achieve its onshore-wind target in the Climate Action Plan of 2030, around 860mw would need to have been approved.
The board rejected applications from eight wind farms with a capacity of about 459mw, while 30 projects with a total capacity of 1,766mw were awaiting decision.
Noel Cunniffe, CEO of Wind Energy Ireland, said many of the projects recently approved by the planning appeals board have already been challenged to the courts.
“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,” he said. “These anti-wind energy zonings will ultimately push up costs for consumers.”
Mr Cunniffe acknowledged that there has been an improvement in turnaround times at An Bord Pleanála, as it works through a backlog that built up following a series of controversies two years ago.
The 12 decisions on wind farms made in the first half of this year contrasts with three in the same period last year. The average time for decisions to be made has fallen from 79 weeks to 74 for appeals, and from 106 weeks to 80 for applications made directly to ABP.
“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,” Mr Cunniffe said.
