Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 25 November 2025
521. Deputy Albert Dolan asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if environmental impact assessment requirements for solar farms and associated battery-storage facilities include mandatory analysis of contamination risks from fire-water run-off, air emissions, and soil or groundwater pollution; and if he will provide the relevant regulatory documents or inspectorate guidance. [65621/25]
Amharc ar fhreagraAs Minister for Housing, Local Government & Heritage, my role in relation to the planning system is, primarily, to provide a policy and legislative framework under which the planning authorities, including An Coimisiún Pleanála (the Commission) and the Office of the Planning Regulator (the OPR) perform their statutory planning functions.
The Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Directive specifies projects which, by virtue of their nature, size or location are likely to have significant effects on the environment and should be subject to EIA. The Directive requires projects listed in Annex I of the Directive to be subject to mandatory EIA and provides that Member States may determine whether projects listed in Annex II of the Directive shall be subject to EIA.
Projects requiring an EIA by a planning authority or An Coimisiún Pleanála (the Commission), as appropriate, in respect of an application for planning consent are listed in Part 1 and Part 2 of Schedule 5 of the Planning and Development Regulations 2001 (the Regulations), as amended, which transpose the list of projects in Annex I and II of the EIA Directive into planning legislation.
Neither stationary battery energy storage systems nor solar farms are listed as an EIA project in either Annex I or II of the EIA Directive.
However, it is not necessarily the case that neither type of development could never require EIA. Circumstances may arise in which such a project may be subject to a requirement for EIA if, for example, one or more aspects of the project potentially comes within the scope of any of the project classes listed in Annex I or Annex II of the Directive and consequently, Part 1 and Part 2 of Schedule 5 to the Regulations, also noting the criteria for sub-threshold development as set out in Schedule 7 of the Regulations.
It would be a matter for a Planning Authorities or An Coimisiún Pleanála to assess a planning application for a proposed stationary battery energy storage development or proposed solar farm development in accordance with the requirements of the EIA Directive and transposing legislation, and determine if an EIA is required or not.
