Irish developer ESB to decommission controversial onshore wind farm

Irish renewables developer ESB has decided to decommission its 59.5MW Derrybrien Derrybrien (59.5MW) OnshoreGort, County Galway, Ireland, Europe Click to see full details wind farm in Galway, western Ireland, after failing to receive a new permit for the project.

It had paused operations of the controversial projects in February after Irish permitting authority, An Bord Pleanála, decided not to grant substitute consent – which amounts to retrospective compliance with the EU directive on environmental impact assessments – for the wind farm.

The company – which is 95% owned by the Irish government – is now preparing to decommission the turbines following years of legal wrangling over the project, it stated.

Derrybrien consists of 70 Vestas’ V52-850 turbines, and was first commissioned in 2006.

During construction, in 2003, extraction of peat bog caused a landslide that blocked roads and polluted a nearby river.

The European Court of Justice later ruled the original permitting approval for the project unlawful in 2019, citing environmental concerns and blaming Ireland for not carrying out a proper environmental impact assessment.

It ordered Ireland to pay tens of millions of euros in fines and told ESB to seek retroactive approval for the project.

An Bord Pleanála has now turned down ESB’s latest permitting application, following years of legal controversy surrounding the project.

It stated that ESB could not mitigate the environmental impacts of the peat slide, and said the wind farm’s environmental impacts were “clear, profound and unacceptable”.

Following this rejection, ESB decided to decommission the wind farm.