What the Sector’s New Wind Energy Strategy Means for Landowners and Local Communities
Ireland’s wind energy sector has set out a new roadmap for how the country could become energy independent, with direct implications for landowners, rural communities and local infrastructure across the country.
Earlier this week in Dublin, Wind Energy Ireland launched its new Strategy for 2026–2030, titled Delivering Energy Independence, Powering Growth, at its Annual Conference in the Clayton Burlington Hotel. The conference brought together policymakers, grid operators, industry leaders and investors to discuss how Ireland’s electricity system is changing and what that means for communities nationwide.
At the centre of the strategy is the idea of Ireland becoming an “electrostate”: a country powered primarily by secure, affordable and home-grown clean electricity, rather than imported fossil fuels. While the term is new, the underlying issues are familiar to many households and landowners, including high energy costs, grid constraints, planning processes and the visible presence of energy infrastructure in rural landscapes.
What the strategy says, in practical terms
The strategy sets out two core priorities. The first is to build wind farms, both onshore and offshore, more quickly and at better value for electricity users. The second is to make greater use of clean electricity by shifting heating, transport and parts of industry away from fossil fuels and onto the electricity system.
Wind Energy Ireland points to Ireland’s wind resources as among the strongest in Europe, particularly in rural and coastal areas. According to figures discussed at the conference, approximately 5,000 megawatts (MW) of onshore wind capacity are already installed across the Republic of Ireland. In addition, 451MW of new wind farms are currently under construction, with a further 1,246MW either ready for the next State support auction or seeking private power purchase agreements. Another 2,112MW is in the planning system.
If these projects proceed, 2026 could become a record year for new wind farm delivery in Ireland. For landowners, this signals continued interest in suitable sites for energy development. For communities, it underlines why planning, consultation and local engagement remain central issues.
Grid infrastructure as a place-based issue
One of the clearest messages from the conference was that wind energy development cannot progress without significant upgrades to the national electricity grid. EirGrid CEO Cathal Marley outlined a development pipeline that includes approximately 181 kilometres of new overhead lines, 40 new substations and 19 new transformer stations over the coming decade.
Some of this infrastructure is intended to address long-standing congestion in areas such as the northwest, where strong wind resources exist but grid capacity has limited development. Projects such as the North–South Interconnector were referenced as critical national infrastructure, but also as developments that directly affect specific places, landholdings and communities.
The strategy explicitly acknowledges that grid, planning and regulatory bottlenecks are among the main barriers to delivery. Removing those barriers, while maintaining public trust, is identified as a core challenge for the next five years.
Communities, trust and social licence
For landowners and communities, one of the most relevant sections of the strategy relates to public engagement. Wind Energy Ireland states that the energy transition will only succeed if it has public trust and support, and commits to improving how the benefits and impacts of wind energy are communicated.
The strategy emphasises affordability, energy security and climate action as the main public benefits, while also recognising the need for communities to feel informed, included and respected. This reflects growing recognition that local acceptance, often described as “social licence”, is as important as technical or financial feasibility.
At the conference, Wind Energy Ireland CEO Noel Cunniffe described an electrostate not only as a technical system, but as one that should result in warmer homes, lower running costs, cleaner air and more resilient local infrastructure. These outcomes, however, depend on how projects are planned, sited and integrated into existing landscapes and livelihoods.
What this means looking ahead
The strategy does not change planning law or grid policy on its own, but it does set out the wind energy sector’s priorities as Ireland moves deeper into the energy transition. For landowners, it signals sustained demand for land suitable for wind generation and associated infrastructure. For communities, it reinforces that energy policy decisions made at national level will continue to have very local, place-specific effects.
As Ireland moves towards greater electrification of homes, transport and industry, the physical presence of the energy system, including turbines, substations and power lines, will remain part of everyday life in many parts of the country. How these developments are delivered, and how communities are engaged in that process, will shape not just the energy system, but the future character and resilience of towns, villages and rural areas across Ireland.
Place Engage is a dynamic public consultation tool for fully-immersive, digital placemaking and meaningful stakeholder engagement. As a recognised friend of the New European Bauhaus movement, the Place Engage team are founding members of the Public Consultation Institute of Ireland and are currently contributing to an international, multidisciplinary body of work aimed at establishing best practice in integrated on and offline public consultation for both the private and public sectors in Europe: https://placeengage.com/