New Measures to Fast-Track Renewable Energy Permissions

New EU measures aimed at fast-tracking the permitting procedures for renewable energy projects have been adopted into Irish law. Our Planning & Environment team explores the key provisions introduced by the European Union (Planning and Development) (Renewable Energy) Regulations 2025. They also review the implications for developers.

What you need to know

New regulations for renewable energy development have been introduced. The measures include:

• Mandatory timelines for planning authorities to issue decisions on renewable energy development.
• The carrying out of completeness checks on applications for renewable energy development.
• The provision of opinions on the scope and level of detail required in environmental impact assessment reports.

New measures aimed at fast-tracking the permitting procedures for renewable energy projects have been adopted into Irish law.

The European Union (Planning and Development) (Renewable Energy) Regulations 2025[1] (the Regulations) transpose several provisions of the third Renewable Energy Directive (EU Directive 2023/2413) (RED III). RED III entered into force in November 2023. It aims to accelerate the EU’s clean energy transition and strengthen energy security for Member States.

RED III introduces measures to speed up and simplify renewable infrastructure permitting procedures including mandatory decision-making timelines for planning permission. Ireland was one of 26 Member States that failed to fully transpose the provisions of RED III by the deadline of 21 May 2025. The provisions relating to permitting procedures were due to be implemented by 1 July 2024.

The provisions relating to permitting procedures have now been implemented through the Regulations.

What projects do the Regulations apply to?

The Regulations introduce measures relevant to the following categories of renewable energy development:

• Energy from a renewable non-fossil source - wind energy, solar energy, geothermal energy, osmotic energy, ambient energy, tide, wave and other ocean energy, hydropower, biomass, landfill gas, sewage treatment plant gas or biogas
• Repowering development
• Small-scale renewable energy installations, including heat pumps and solar energy equipment.

Decision-making timelines for permitting procedures

The Regulations introduced a new completeness check for applications for renewable energy development.

This new rule provides that where a planning authority or An Coimisiún Pleanála (the Commission) receives an application for permission for the applicable renewable energy and repowering development, it must acknowledge and assess the application for completeness within 45 days of receipt.

Once an application has been confirmed as complete, a planning authority or the Commission has 52 weeks to make a decision on whether to grant permission or not. This period is reduced to 30 weeks in the case of applications for the applicable renewable energy and repowering development with an electrical capacity of less than 150kW.

Applications for relevant solar energy development[2] and certain small-scale projects, such as the installation of small-scale solar energy equipment or heat pumps, must be decided within 4 to 8 weeks of acknowledgment of a complete application.

The above periods are extended where:

• A planning authority or the Commission is required to consider whether there are imperative reasons of overriding public interest (IROPI) cases or
• The proposed development is situated wholly or partly in a maritime area.

The following table provides a summary of the applicable timelines upon receipt of confirmation of a complete application:

Importantly, these timelines for decision-making cannot be paused because of requests for further information or due to the requirement to carry out an environment assessment. For these reasons, the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage issued a circular on 15 August 2025[3]. It advised that a policy decision had been made to disapply further information requests for certain developments captured by the Regulations. These developments are relevant solar energy development, small-scale solar energy equipment developments and heat pumps. However, it remains possible to request further information for certain other renewable energy developments subject to the Regulations. In these circumstances, the planning authority must issue a request for further information within 8 weeks of the date of a completeness check notice being given and the planning authority must specify the period for replying to such a request. Where an applicant does not provide the information within the period specified, the application shall be considered as withdrawn.

Changes to EIA requirements

Under the Regulations, developers are required to obtain an opinion from a planning authority or the Commission on the scope and level of detail to be included in an environmental impact assessment report (EIAR). Where an opinion is provided, it is not open to the planning authority to subsequently extend the scope or level of detail of the information required in the EIAR from what has been set out in that opinion.

Conclusion

The commencement of the Regulations marks an important step in ensuring that renewable energy development is fast-tracked and Ireland’s wider obligations under RED III are met. The introduction of completeness checks is aimed at addressing issues with applications at an early stage and before the clock starts for the mandatory decision-making periods. For this reason, pre-application consultation will be all the more important particularly for those developments which can no longer be subject to further information requests.

The majority of the new rules are effective immediately with the exception of the EIA opinion provisions. These will now come into force on 1 May 2026.

Developers in the process of preparing applications for permission should take immediate action to ensure compliance with the Regulations.

For more information on these measures, please get in touch with a member of our Planning & Environment team.

People also ask

[1] S.I. No. 274/2025

[2] In this context, relevant solar energy development is defined in the Regulations as “the installation of solar energy equipment (other than small-scale solar equipment) and any co-located energy storage, including building-integrated solar installations, in existing or future artificial surfaces (other than artificial water surfaces), provided that the primary aim of the artificial surfaces is not solar energy production or energy storage”

[3] CEPP 1/2025 - European Union (Planning and Development) (Renewable Energy) Regulations 2025 Circular