The Derrybrien Wind Farm is owned by Gort Windfarms Limited, which is wholly owned by ESB
The Derrybrien Wind Farm Project is a non-operational windfarm and associated works including an onsite substation (Derrybrien substation), a 7.8km overhead electricity line connecting the windfarm to the national grid, and an offsite substation (Agannygal substation). The wind farm comprises 70 turbines, met masts and other equipment typical of a wind farm. The wind farm generated renewable electricity from 2006 to 2022.
The wind farm was constructed from 2003 to 2006. In October 2003, during the construction of the turbine foundations, a peat slide occurred. The slide originated within the wind farm site boundary to the south of the site. Immediately after the event, onsite and offsite emergency works were undertaken. These mainly comprised the installation of earthen and boulder barrages to minimise the effects on receiving watercourses, roads, and lands. Further works were undertaken between 2004 and 2005 to create offsite peat repository areas for the storage of displaced peat.
The following year, once it had been confirmed by engineering experts that it was appropriate to do so, construction of the wind farm resumed. All phases of the project were constructed in parallel, and works were completed in 2006.
A case taken to the European Court of Justice ('CJEU') found in 2008 that the Irish State had failed in its implementation of the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Directive. The Court found that Ireland had not adopted all measures needed to ensure that the environmental impacts of certain projects were assessed prior to the carrying out of works; and that this undermined the planning permissions granted for the development of Derrybrien Wind Farm. A second CJEU ruling in 2019 found that Ireland had still not complied with the 2008 decision. Even though the wind farm development had planning permission in full compliance with Irish law, the CJEU rulings meant those permissions were flawed. In June 2020, Galway County Council directed Gort Windfarms Ltd. to apply to An Bord Pleanála for substitute consent to regularise the planning status of the development - that application was made in August 2020. In February 2022, An Bord Pleanála refused consent meaning the development was unauthorised. Gort Windfarms Ltd. confirmed it would decommission the development and ceased commercial operations at the site at that time.
Because the development is unauthorised as explained above, commercial operations at the wind farm ceased in early 2022 and the task of decommissioning was started. In recent months, Galway County Council have issued an enforcement notice requiring those works to be completed within a specific amount of time. Planning permission is now being sought to ensure those works proceed in an orderly and lawful manner, and as part of that process environmental assessments are being completed. It is anticipated that the necessary permissions will be secured during 2025 and decommissioning works will proceed.
Following receipt of the appropriate permissions, decommissioning works are expected to take approximately 24 months.
After this period of consultation, we will work on finalising the application documents. In due course, more information will be posted on the website - www.derrybrienwindfarm.ie; and public notices will be erected in the area and ads placed in the newspapers, immediately before the applications are submitted. These will set out the dates when submissions can be made to An Bord Pleanála.