Staff shortages in the planning system hinders wind development

Noel Cunniffe said that Ireland is 'simply not building wind farms quickly enough to keep up with the scale of renewable energy deployment we need'

Academic research previously found that at least two ports are needed to deliver Ireland’s 2030 offshore wind targets, but there is currently no port in the Republic that is ready for to be used to construct large scale offshore wind farms. File picture: iStock

Staff shortages in the planning system have contributed to headaches in Ireland’s wind industry which has been beleaguered by planning delays for years, warned an expert group.

Industry representative body Wind Energy Ireland urged the government to add skilled staff with to local authority planning departments to assess an increasing amount of planning applications for “critical renewable energy infrastructure like wind and solar farms.”