Suspicion, distrust, confusion: Why wind farm developments are being delayed
Picture: In Kilkenny Are Wind Farm A 4 Opposing Patrick Munities Co Transition Kilmanagh, Just Browne
As is often the case with this business, it started as a rumour. A few people in the village of Kilmanagh heard some local farmers had been getting a knock on the door. Inquiries were made to check whether it was true.
Most of the farmers who inhabited the rumour were reticent, but one or two had no problem sharing their experience. Yes, there had been an approach to sell or lease land. Yes, it’s another wind farm they’re talking about it. And yes, they were asked to say nothing for the time being.
That was how a proposal to build a wind farm near the Kilkenny village came about. The village, with a population of about 500, nestles in the cup of a valley about 15km from Kilkenny City, close to the Tipperary border. It is a suitable example of the term picturesque and, despite its size, has a tradition of supplying hurlers to winning Kilkenny teams.
On approach to the village, a rank of turbines can be seen chopping the air on a nearby hill. This is the Ballybay wind farm, one of two already operating in the area. For good or ill, wind speeds through the valley are optimum and therefore the location represents a happy hunting ground for developers.
Over four years after the initial rumour took flight, the proposed new farm is still not even at the planning stage. Digital images produced by a local community group show the eight turbines completely dwarfing the village.
What has resulted is the kind of conflict that is now common across rural Ireland. A developer is attempting to respond to a growing market for wind energy. The local community is resisting what it sees as an unfair imposition on its way of life.
As with any conflict, this one requires a mediator, an arbiter, a safe pair of hands. This is where the State should come in, particularly at a time when a major increase in wind energy is required. Unfortunately, the State is leaving a lot to be desired in terms of its responsibility.
“The starting point for us is that this community has welcomed wind farms,” says local woman Sharon Trayer.
“The two that are already operating are 4km and 7km from the village and there was no objection from people here because of where they were placed. They produce 34% of the renewable energy required in Kilkenny for electricity.
These conflicts are ongoing at a time when the focus should be on meeting climate change targets.
The proposed wind farm at Kilmanagh highlights a national issue that has gone way beyond a problem. The Climate Action Plan makes provision for 80% of electricity to be generated from renewables by 2030, the main source of which is wind.
A report by industry body Wind Energy Ireland last week said 35% of electricity supplied during 2023 came from wind. Reaching the 2030 target will be very difficult.
There are major problems with the development of off-shore wind energy, principally to do with planning, but onshore wind energy is long past the day when a proper system should be in place.
Trayer and a number of other locals have come together with a purpose bigger than just resisting that which they say is to be placed on their doorstep.
The knowledge they have acquired as part of their campaign has led them to believe the whole system of transitioning to non-fossil fuels is not fit for purpose. Their group, Communities 4 Just Transition is campaigning for a complete re-examination of how wind farms are developed.
A letter sent by the group to the developer of the proposed wind farm encapsulated their view of the system. “The proposed development has recreated a power imbalance where decisions for the future of an entire community are potentially being made by a small number of people who stand to gain significant wealth — you, and to a lesser extent, the landowners. This power imbalance is now leading to a division within our community, causing damage to the social cohesion we have worked so hard to build.”
Sharon Taynor says if the country wants to meet its renewable energy targets, the relationship between developer and community needs to start in a different way.
“The way it is now done means that there is suspicion from the start and then opposition to what sometimes are potentially good developments.
Developers, for their part, often also have suspicions. They fear most projects will face resistance even if there appears to be a relatively small impact. In such a milieu, and considering what is at stake, the State and its agencies have largely run for cover.
The experience in Kilmanagh over the last few years is a perfect example of the problems. The proposed farm at Briskalagh, a townland adjoining the village, is still at the exploratory stage.
It is being developed by a company owned by Enerco Energy, a vehicle for West Cork businessman Michael Murnane and his family. The company has developed a number of wind farms around the country and has a reputation for operating according to industry norms.
Four years on from exploring possibilities, the project has still not got to planning stage, a delay that speaks volumes.
The location for any development is determined by the county development plan. Generally, there are three categories of suitability for the development of wind farms in an area. These are Acceptable in Principle (AIP), Open for Consideration (OFC) and Not Normally Permissible (NNP). Developers can then scout for potential sites.
Sharon Trayer points out categorisation changed around the location for the proposed wind farm in their area but few in the community were aware of it.
“We’re ordinary people going about our business and when changes are made unless somebody is keeping a close eye on things we are not going to know about it,” she says. Developers, it could be argued, have an advantage in this respect.
However, the easily changeable categories can also present headaches for developers. “The categories are decided by councillors,” a spokesperson for Wind Energy Ireland says.
“They identify locations where wind farms shouldn’t be built. The problem we have is that when a developer identifies a location within the existing system and the development plan comes up from review the councillors can, and do, change a designation to say a wind farm is now not suitable for that location.”
An obvious solution would be for local authorities to be more specific in the locations that would be suitable for development, which would in turn be known to everybody and should simplify the planning process.
Consultation is another bugbear for some communities. In Kilmanagh, an information meeting was arranged for late August last year in what locals say was a response to a letter signed by 800 local people.
The details on the proposal at the presentation in a community hall were scant. “We have written to the developer a number of times since, but we still don’t know much more,” Sharon Trayer says.
Michael Murnane told the he would only comment in general terms about how his companies approach any project.
“People are perfectly entitled to make observations and their concerns known,” he says. “We have been building wind farms for a long number of years and we go according to Government policy in how to communicate. I can’t say other than that all of the necessary meetings are held.”
Where the system is really creaking is in the operation of the guidelines under which wind farms must operate. The general guidelines cater for setback distance — how far a farm must be from domestic dwellings, noise and shadow flicker, the effect that turbine blades can have on light.
The current guidelines date from 2006. At that time, the span of turbine blades was 50m and the corresponding setback distance was 500m. Today the span is up to 185m. Noise from the turbines has also increased.
Yet despite huge technological advances, this highly sensitive issue in rural Ireland has not been properly addressed. Officially, the 2006 guidelines are still in place.
In 2013, the government of the day recognised that technology and the further proliferation of wind farms required new guidelines. These never saw the light of day. New proposals were drafted by the following year. These were rejected. More new proposals were drafted. Once again, they were allowed to gather dust before advancing to the approval stage.
Various excuses were given for not updating the guidelines but the reality was that the government was unwilling to make what would have inevitably been a tough decision. On the one hand, developers were lobbying — with some justification — that restrictive guidelines would ensure there would be little potential in the State for further development.
Opposing that view were existing homeowners and other local interests which made convincing cases that without restrictive guidelines there would be serious consequences for quality of life, and even health, in rural Ireland. Faced with such choices, successive governments have repeatedly kicked for touch.
In 2019, new draft guidelines were published. They include a setback distance of four times the blade span, which would be up to 750m. These have not been brought forward to full implementation stage.
So officially, wind farms can be built using the 2006 guidelines.
Correspondence seen by the shows both Kilkenny County Council and the developer have stated that the 2006 guidelines will apply to the proposed wind farm in Kilmanagh. This is despite the size of the turbines being three times the size for which the 2006 guidelines were devised.
A spokesperson for Wind Energy Ireland says nearly all projects today are being built according to the draft 2019 guidelines rather than the official 2006 version.
In reality, the whole area is replete with confusion. Developers can decide which guidelines they intent to apply and communities are left in the dark as to their rights under government policy.
While successive governments sat on their hands, the matter has reached through the legal system all the way to the Supreme Court. A judgement in 2019 declared An Bord Pleanála cannot just apply the 2006 guidelines but must also take into account any other relevant evidence of impact on dwellings or communities. That was four years ago. Still, there has been no update from the government.
“The consequences of not providing clear up-to-date guidelines today is widespread suspicion and resistance,” says Joe Noonan, a solicitor specialising in planning law.
“If the Government was rigorous and updated the guidelines, some developers might be a bit annoyed but the communities at large would breathe a sigh of relief because they would believe that the regulators were actually regulating and not rolling over and facilitating developments.
Michael Murnane feels that developers are as left in the dark as much as anybody about what will or will not be deemed acceptable by planning authorities.
“It’s very hard for the industry to see a way forward without proper guidelines,” he says.
“The renewable directive and what is required is a long way off because of a lack of policy and guidelines.”
For those intent on protecting what they see as an unfair imposition on their communities, a whole new approach is needed.
“We accept that we as a country need more renewable energy projects,” Sharon Trayer of Communities 4 Just Transition says. “There are locations even in the general area where we live but we just don’t agree that it’s the right location where this one is planned.
"It’s about a community having a say and a voice and ending the drip feed of information. When you are limited to poor information it generates fear.”
A spokesperson for the Department of Housing said the Climate Action Plan has set a timeline of October-December 2024 for publication of the undated guidelines.
“Pending the completion of the review process, the current 2006 Wind Energy Development guidelines remain in force,” he said.
A review of the National Planning Framework, which will include an outline of plans for wind energy, is scheduled to be published in April.
If, unlike at various junctures over the last 11 years, the deadlines are met, wind energy development may move into a new phase.
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