By Jonathan Magee
A WAVE of wind, solar and battery storage applications is working its way through Donegal County Council under the EU’s RED III directive, with progress mixed and one high-profile refusal now headed to appeal.
Five renewable applications have passed full validation with the council, but the path to permission has proved far from straightforward for some.
Irish Premium Renewable Energy’s proposal for a five-turbine wind farm at Croaghnashallog, near Dungloe, was withdrawn after at least 57 submissions objected on environmental grounds, with concerns centred on the site’s peat bog conditions.
The Dungloe Wind Turbine Action Group raised issues around bogland stability and proximity to local lakes. Two further applications since submitted have been deemed invalid or incomplete, the most recent in May.
Not every scheme has stalled. Crockahenny Wind Farm DAC secured conditional permission in March for two turbines in Inishowen, a 25-year permission carrying strict conditions on construction hours, noise, shadow flicker and road use, along with a development contribution of €137,680 to the council.
Irish Premium Solar’s application for a 34 acre solar farm at Tullydonnell Upper, Convoy has been met with a further information request, with the council seeking landowner consent for road entrance works, a swept path analysis for large vehicles, and a full archaeological impact assessment before any decision is made.
A further five applications, including battery storage plans at Crockahenny and a solar array near Creeslough, have been marked invalid at completeness check stage, with four more still incomplete.
Meanwhile, the refusal of a 120MW battery storage scheme at Listillion, Letterkenny, has gone to appeal. Senior Executive Planner Frank Sweeney, who signed the refusal on May 27, said the council accepted the principle of the development given its proximity to the substation, and acknowledged strong policy support for energy storage. But the National Roads Office warned the scheme could interfere with the €800 million TEN-T road project, including the planned Letterkenny relief road, with the existing site access due to close permanently once that project is delivered.
Renewable Energy Systems Ltd has since appealed the refusal to An Coimisiún Pleanála.
The cases illustrate a tension at the heart of Donegal’s renewables drive: strong national and local backing for decarbonisation, set against a planning system where environmental sensitivities, road infrastructure and local objections are being weighed carefully, often at the cost of significant delay.
The EU RED III Directive (Directive EU20232413) is a comprehensive piece of European legislation designed to accelerate the green transition and reduce fossil fuel dependency across the European Union.