Irish Wind Energy Association

Current Issues

There are a number of issues yet to be resolved which are currently jeopardising Ireland's ability to fully realise it's potential in the wind energy industry. A few of these issues are outlined below.

Atpresent,afailureto align planning regulations with grid connection timelines is having asignificant adverse effect on development. Currently, the standard planning permission granted to a wind farm development typically expiresafter 5 years.However it can take up to 6 years to process a grid connection application. As a result, many projects are delayed to such an extent that their original planning permissionexpires.Extensions are generally only awarded to developers who have completed substantial works on their sites however there is no tight legal definition of what “substantial works” means. Developers are unable to commence works until they recieve a connection offer and authorisation to construct from the CER. This catch-22, can result ina development being left in a legal limbo which has the potential to jeopardise the entire project.

Another issue is the delivery of infrastructure. A national plan for the expansion and upgradingof the electricity grid infrastructure is neededif Ireland is to significantly increase the number of wind farms in operation, andtake advantage ofmany wind rich areas which are currentlyinaccessible in terms of proximity to the grid. The IWEA welcomes the concept of strategic development of infrastructure currently being pioneered by the ESB and EirGrid.However,IWEA feels that such strategic development should reflect the industry’s potential rather than minimum targets,as well asfocussing on Ireland's wave, tidal and offshore wind potential. With a clear grid developmment strategy in place,a clearmarket signal would then be in place toencourage industry investment.

With regard to support systems, the currentrenewable energy feed-in-tariff (REFIT)scheme is capped at 1,450 MW, most of which will be taken up by projects which havealreadyreceived connection offers. Of the 3,000 MW currently being processed for connection offers, it is likely that only a very small percentage will be eligible to avail of the scheme. Developers in the application process who do not know what support system might be available at the end of the process face considerable uncertainty.For this reason, initial work on a follow-on support scheme for future developmentsshould commence.