Claire Kerrane (Roscommon-Galway, Sinn Fein)
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352. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the guidelines in place for battery storage units, to protect communities, similar to the guidelines that have been in place for wind energy; if he is aware of local resident's concerns when planning for such facilities are sought; the safeguards which are in place for communities; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [68008/25]

John Cummins (Waterford, Fine Gael)
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The Programme for Government 2025 – Securing Ireland’s Future commits to ensure the managed development of solar energy and battery power through the development of national planning guidelines. It also commits to advance battery development and take-up to allow portable energy and reduce grid dependence and reaffirms Ireland’s ambitious targets of 8 GW of solar capacity connected to the grid by 2030, to assist with meeting the requirement of 80% of electricity demand supplied by renewables.

Therefore, my Department will prepare a new National Planning Statement on Solar Energy, which will consider developments that include battery storage, under the provisions of the Planning and Development Act 2024. My Department has begun an initial scoping process to identify the component factors relevant to the preparation of the National Planning Statement for solar energy development, including consideration of any appropriate environmental assessment and public consultation requirements and other relevant European obligations such as the Renewable Energy Directive (RED III), which will determine the timeframe for publication of said guidelines.

As part of the initial scoping process by the Department to identify the component factors relevant to the preparation of a National Planning Statement for solar energy development, the Department is considering factors for consideration in the National Planning Statement, to include solar energy developments that use battery storage as part of the development.

It is important to note that many of the issues concerning battery storage are more appropriate for consideration under building control and fire safety codes, and may be more appropriately dealt with by way of best practice guidance issued through these codes rather than by way of a National Planning Statement.

This scoping process remains at an early stage but I am satisfied that the existing and evolving planning system, supported by Government policy more generally, provides a sufficiently robust policy and legislative framework to facilitate the rollout of solar energy development, including solar energy developments that use battery storage as part of the development, in a sustainable manner and to assist with meeting our renewable electricity requirements while balancing the perspectives of local communities and allowing for public and stakeholder engagement.

In the interim, there are currently no statutory planning guidelines in place in respect of solar energy or battery storage development. Proposals for individual solar energy developments, including developments that include battery storage, are subject to the statutory requirements of the Planning and Development Act 2000, as amended, and the Planning and Development Act 2024, as amended, in the same manner as other proposed developments, with planning applications made to the relevant local planning authority, or An Coimisiún Pleanála on appeal.

The Programme for Government also committed to a Land Use Review to ensure that optimal land use options inform all relevant Government decisions. The second phase of the Land Use Review, which is currently underway, will seek to identify the key demands on land (both public and private) to inform policies for land use across key government objectives, improving socioeconomic, climate, biodiversity, water, and air quality outcomes. The Department of Climate, Energy and the Environment and the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine are working towards the conclusion of the second stage of the review. Any National Planning Statement on solar energy development or battery storage will take into careful consideration any finding of the Land Use Review.