Planning concerns over energy projects, with no wind farms granted permission in the past year

Planning was also a key area that needed to be addressed if Ireland was to continue to attract foreign direct investment to the energy sector.

The survey was carried out by business law firm Mason Hayes & Curran at its annual energy conference, The Future of Energy Investment in Ireland, held at the Clayton Hotel, Cork City, in association with the Irish Examiner. Almost all (86%) of the energy executives expect the proposed reforms to Irish planning law to have a positive effect on the sector.

"These results are not surprising as there is a lot of frustration with the current delays in receiving a planning permission that is safe from legal challenge," Jay Sattin, planning and environment partner at Mason Hayes & Curran said.

Donal O’Sullivan, Statkraft Ireland’s vice-president for development and offshore, and one of the panellists at the conference, said planning delays and legal challenges remained a considerable risk to the future development of renewable energy projects.

"If you asked me a year ago I would have pointed to grid rollout infrastructure or auction design as the greatest challenges but we are now at the stage where planning is at such a desperate stage," he said.

"There are a few depressing stats that by the end of September we will be on the first anniversary since An Bord Pleanála granted permission for any wind farm, so no wind farm has been granted planning permission over the last 12 months."

"For our own pipeline at StatKraft, we have two projects, one that has been in the planning process for the past three years and another that was granted planning two years ago that has had a judicial review. I think we are at a stage where delays are getting so acute and elongated that with the upcoming Ress III auction there is a shortage of projects coming through," Mr O'Sullivan said.

The new planning legislation, if enacted in its current form, should result in mandatory timelines for planning determinations. 

"However, those changes need to be supported by other measures, including more resources for planning authorities, which should mean the timelines are achieved and result in fewer errors in the planning decisions," Mr Sattin said.

Opening Thursday's conference, Finance Minister Michael McGrath said the Government had committed to delivering up to 80% of Ireland’s electricity from renewable sources by the end of this decade, which would be achieved through 90GW of onshore wind, 8GW of solar and at least 5GW of offshore wind.

“All of this will help fundamentally to give us energy security which since the terrible war in Ukraine, the fundamental importance of having energy security is recognised across Europe as a top priority,” he said.

“There is no going back. We all have to work together in the spirit of collaboration. None of us acting alone can make the kind of progress we need to make. 

It is by the public sector working with all strands of the private sector to deal with the greatest challenge that humankind has ever faced.”

However, the survey results show there was less positivity around offshore wind targets, with none of the respondents believing this would happen. 

Fifty nine per cent believe less than 2GW of offshore wind capacity will be installed by 2030, while 41% believe more than 2GW but less than the 5GW target will have been achieved. Increased interconnection with the UK and mainland Europe was seen as critical to delivering Ireland’s off-shore wind ambitions (72%).

More than three quarters (81%) called for greater Government focus on the decarbonisation of transport and heat — not just electricity — in order for Ireland to attract well-rounded FDI, while just over two-thirds of respondents (66%) said the incentivisation of green hydrogen production would help to deliver the decarbonisation of Ireland’s power system.

Event chair Eoin Cassidy, partner and head of the energy sector team at Mason Hayes & Curran, said Ireland’s energy transition was one of the defining issues of our time and the event was an opportunity for industry leaders and stakeholders to explore how they can work together to shape the future landscape of energy investment in Ireland and improve our global competitiveness. 

Mr McGrath said achieving the Paris Agreement goal of limiting the increase in global temperature to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels would entail nothing less than a full transformation of our economy and our society. 

"It is important to recognise that the scale of investment needed to transform our energy systems is beyond what can be facilitated through public sector funding alone," he said.

"It is therefore imperative that we encourage the development of sustainable businesses. We must ensure that financial markets increasingly embed sustainability, and reorient private capital flows towards sustainable investments, and today’s conference provides a timely opportunity to discuss how this collaboration can take place.” 

Simon Mundy, journalist and author of Race for Tomorrow: Survival, Innovation and Profit on the Front Lines of the Climate Crisis, also spoke at the event to discuss the global race for leadership in the clean energy age, describing it as the most important business and economic story of our generation.