Ireland will fail to meet its target of 70% renewable energy by 2030 because its planning system is “broken,” according to a new report.
‘Building Onshore Wind’, published by the Irish Wind Energy Association (IWEA) today, called for urgent changes to reform the planning system and boost the post-Covid economy.
It said Ireland has the “highest share of electricity demand met by onshore wind in the world”, supplying almost 37% of its needs in the first six months of the year.
But, if it takes a “business as usual” approach to planning, the best the country can hope for is about 5.5GW of onshore wind by 2030 – far short of its climate change commitments.
Ireland would need an additional 4.0GW of onshore wind in the next 10 years to reach its goal, totalling 8.2GW overall.
Developing new wind farms would create thousands of jobs and provide millions to rural communities and country councils, IWEA said.
In a foreword to the report, IWEA 70by30 committee chair Paul Blount said: “While there is a lot to be positive about Ireland’s Climate Action Plan, it is probably fair to say that it still falls short of the ‘urgent and unprecedented’ changes that the climate science demands.
“We are not yet on a trajectory to zero emissions by 2050 and the Climate Action Plan must be understood not as the destination, but as a step on the journey towards that goal.”