Niall Collins (Limerick County, Fianna Fail)

The development of renewable energy is an important issue. Therefore, it is useful to have the opportunity to update Members of the Dáil on the status of planning guidance with regard to wind and solar energy development. From a planning perspective, the programme for Government contains commitments to prioritise the publication of the wind energy development guidelines and to introduce new planning guidelines for solar energy development.

With regard to the wind energy development guidelines, the review is addressing a number of key aspects of the guidelines, including setback distance, noise, shadow flicker, community obligation, community dividend and grid connections. The review aims to strike an appropriate balance between addressing the concerns of local communities by ensuring there is greater and earlier community engagement by wind energy developers. While the review of the guidelines has been ongoing for years – it has been going on too long - significant progress has been made towards concluding the review process. The Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, in conjunction with the Department of Climate, Energy and the Environment, which has primary responsibility for environmental noise matters, has been working to advance guidance on the noise aspect of the guidelines. This work, which is highly technical in nature, is substantially complete.

The Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage will ensure that the final guidelines, once published, are fit for purpose to provide guidance in line with renewable energy and climate targets, while having appropriate regard to the impacts of wind energy development. The evolving policy and technical context, including the Planning and Development Act 2024 and the first revision of the national planning framework, reinforces the need to ensure that the finalised guidelines, once issued, are fit for purpose.

Also included in the programme for Government is a commitment to introduce planning guidelines for solar energy developments. The Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage has begun an initial scoping process to identify the component factors relevant to the preparation of these guidelines, including the possible timeframe for publication. Until the finalisation of solar panel development guidelines, it will remain the case that, as with the large majority of development types, there are no specific planning guidelines to deal with solar energy development.

In line with the EU directive requirements, a strategic environmental assessment is being carried out on the draft wind guidelines and will be carried out on any draft solar guidelines. The Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage intends to undertake a public consultation on any draft guidelines, for either wind or solar, before they are finalised whereby individuals, communities and organisations will have an opportunity to submit observations on the draft guidelines. Finalised guidelines will be prepared following detailed analysis and consideration of the submissions received during the consultation phase.

With regard to biogas or anaerobic digestion, the current planning system provides a sufficiently robust policy and legislative framework to facilitate the proper planning and sustainable development of developments, which may be considered on a case-by-case basis in accordance with the relevant county development plan and Government policy, as applicable. In that context, there are currently no plans at present to introduce statutory planning guidelines for these development types.

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