David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael)
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It is a given that we must reduce our reliance on fossil fuels and increase the use of renewable and low-carbon energy sources, such as wind and solar, as I am sure the Minister of State will agree. The need for solar farms across Ireland is growing. I refer to the best practice planning guidance report on large-scale solar energy development in Ireland produced with the Irish Solar Energy Association by Fehily Timoney in November last. It is very good document. If the Minister of State has not come across it, he might take a look at it. The report states:

The need for solar farms across Ireland is growing, and a progressive and transparent planning process is fundamental in ensuring that ambitious national energy targets pertaining to renewable energies are met. The development of coherent national, regional and local policies around solar farms is a key prerequisite for growth within the renewable energy sector in Ireland. The absence of such direct policies is a concern and will further induce miscommunication and stunt the progression of such applications within the planning system.

Where there is a gap, a lack of information, a lack of policy and a lack of guidelines, we will run into problems. We have seen this previously with wind energy, which became almost a no-go area. The construction of large-scale solar farms is a relatively new development in rural Ireland. More and more rural communities are discovering that the green productive fields in their areas are being earmarked for solar farm development. The deployment of thousands of solar panels changes the visual aspect of the countryside and it can have other effects, such as on wildlife, biodiversity, flooding risk and food production.

The best practice planning guidance report, prepared in conjunction with the Irish Solar Energy Association, is very good and addresses all of those points, but the State has not done so. It is not mandatory or obligatory for any company or developer to follow these guidelines even though they should. There is a risk that the public image of solar energy could be eroded by the public response to large-scale solar farms, which have sometimes been sited insensitively. I tabled a parliamentary question last week on the possible need for specific planning guidance and guidelines for solar farms. The response indicated that the matter is being kept under review and where the need for specific planning guidance for solar farms is identified, the Department would develop such guidelines. I would argue that the time has arrived. In my area, there are a number of applications for these large farms and people are very concerned about the absence of national guidelines. More and more such farms are being put in place, in some areas covering over 400 acres of land, which is a massive area of countryside. If we wait too long, it will be too late.

Another issue is the need for proper consultation and information for local residents, and this document outlines how that should be done. It states that local politicians should be consulted but that has not happened in my area. The amount of documentation that is submitted as part of a planning application is daunting for ordinary working families to digest if they want to formulate an objection or observation, and they may need assistance with that. I ask that the guidelines include a provision for a community fund to compensate local communities to some extent for the disruption caused by the construction of large solar farms and for the impact of the change in the visual aspect of the area.

This is a serious matter. If we do not take it seriously, move on it and put in place national guidelines, I am afraid that we will run into the same problems that the wind turbine industry ran into, not to mention the issues with regard to putting up pylons to upgrade the grid. We ran into the same problems there because we left a vacuum of information and we did not engage with people. I ask the Minister of State to go back and tell the Department of housing that we need to get this in place. Each local authority has its own set of guidelines but it is ad hoc and there is no national overview. This is happening as we speak. More and more of these farms are being constructed and more and more communities are becoming concerned and are protesting, and we do not want to see that.

Ossian Smyth (Dún Laoghaire, Green Party)
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The Minister for housing has asked me to take this question on his behalf. I am glad to have the opportunity to update the Members of the Dáil on the regulation of large-scale solar energy developments from a planning perspective. With regard to this specific issue, it is the case that, as with the large majority of development types, there are currently no specific planning guidelines in place in respect of solar energy developments. Proposals for individual solar energy developments are subject to the statutory requirements of the Planning and Development Act 2000, as amended, in the same manner as other proposed developments, with planning applications made to the relevant local planning authority in the first instance. In making a decision on a planning application for a solar energy development, a planning authority must consider the specific merits or otherwise of the application in line with the proper planning and sustainable development of the area, having regard to the provisions of the development plan, including any zoning objectives, any submissions or observations received from the public and the statutory consultees, and any relevant ministerial or Government policies, including any guidelines issued by the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage.

With respect to the regulation of solar energy developments more generally, the planning system plays an important role in this regard from both a policy and legislative perspective. From a planning policy perspective, the national planning framework, NPF, 2018 is the long-term strategy for the spatial development of Ireland to 2040 and provides support for renewable energy development. The NPF, which is currently being reviewed, informs a spatial hierarchy of plans that cascade to regional and local levels. The draft revised NPF includes enhanced policy support for renewable energy development, including, in particular, the introduction of regional renewable electricity capacity allocations for solar generation development to achieve the national targets set out in the Climate Action Plan 2024. Subject to final approval of the revised NPF by the Government and the Oireachtas, these allocations will be integrated into regional spatial and economic strategies, which will in turn inform city and county development plans and will lead to the identification of areas where large-scale solar energy development will be directed towards, and areas which may not be appropriate for such development.

From a planning legislation perspective, the Planning and Development Bill 2023, which is expected to be signed into law shortly, will deliver a range of measures to enhance the existing legislative framework. The Bill will provide for the alignment of the plan-making hierarchy to ensure greater consistency between national policy and local implementation, as well as provide greater certainty for stakeholders at all stages of the planning process. On this basis, the Minister is satisfied that the existing and evolving planning system provides a sufficiently robust policy and legislative framework for the regulation of large-scale solar energy development.

David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Minister of State for his response. Basically, he is saying there are no guidelines and no plans to develop any, yet this whole industry is developing at a very fast pace.

The UK Government has said it will seek the large-scale deployment of ground-mounted solar on brownfield industrial and low or medium grade agricultural land, being quite clear that poor quality land should be used in preference to high quality agricultural land. What is the Minister of State's view on that?

Another matter I want to bring up is something alluded to by the Minister here when he talked about the introduction of regional renewable electricity capacity allocations. That is the issue of dispatch down and curtailments where renewable energy cannot be used due to power system or local network limitations known as constraints. I understand that hundreds of megawatts of energy are being lost to the system due to dispatch down, so we urgently need to upgrade the grid.

A question then arises as to whether producers of renewable energy from solar farms who have to waste the energy produced are compensated by the State for lost income. If so, can the Minister of State let me know now or later how much was paid last year, and to date this year, and the amount projected to be paid in 2024? I am told it could be a very substantial amount, possibly up to a couple of hundred million euro, under the electricity regulations and part of the Clean energy for all Europeans package. If compensation is being paid for energy not being used, does this lead to higher costs for the consumer, both businesses and homes? Should we be allowing the addition of more very large-scale generation capacity if the grid cannot take it and this leads to higher costs, albeit indirectly, to the consumer? Another issue could be the consideration in any national guidelines of the construction of large-scale solar farms.

A small point I came across in the context of another matter is that there is no State guidance as to the maximum permissible noise levels that may be generated during the construction of a solar farm. That is another issue.

There are multiple issues here but the one relating to dispatch down is one on which I would like the Minister of State, if he does not have the information now, to get that information and bring it to me as soon as possible. It is really serious and it is linked to all of this.

Ossian Smyth (Dún Laoghaire, Green Party)
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I thank the Deputy. The answer indicates the Department of housing has no plans to introduce more specific guidelines on how solar farms should be developed. The Deputy asked about that. The Department is saying it is bringing in regional capacity allocations. In other words, these are projections for the amount of solar power we have produced in each region of Ireland. Those are to be used to flow down to county development plans and so on. There is a path for predicting how much solar energy will be generated and the national planning framework will be used to make planning decisions. It does specify the quantum.

The Deputy asked about the quality of land that is being used and whether it should be high or low quality. I do not believe there are guidelines on that.

The Deputy also asked about curtailment and, specifically, how much money has been paid out in compensation payments as a result of curtailment. This is straying from his original question but I am happy to find him an answer. This will not be from the Department of housing but, rather, from the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, in his capacity as Minister with responsibility for energy. Curtailment is solved by having a better grid and better subsea connections to other countries in order that we can balance our grid better. We are putting greater strain on the grid all of the time by changing the nature of it. We used to have a very small number of generators that generated power and it all flowed in one direction. Now electricity is flowing in both directions and we are adding 100 extra homes every day which are generating their own solar power and sending it back up the grid in another direction. Clearly, the grid is changing from a hierarchy or tree into a network arrangement. We are planning to connect all of our 37 GW of offshore wind, all of which will place additional strain on the grid. That requires billions of euro of investment by EirGrid, as is the case across Europe. There is a Europe-wide plan to invest billions of euro in every country to strengthen the grid and that is part of climate action and the electrification of the grid. EirGrid's future capacity statements are published every year and Deputy Stanton can see whether he considers that they have a reasonable and credible path to the future.