Compliance with the ruling of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) in case C-261/18 (Derrybrien Wind Farm) will be achieved when the Derrybrien Wind Farm in County Galway is subjected to retrospective environmental impact assessment (otherwise known as substitute consent). The Electricity Supply Board (ESB), which owns and operates the wind farm through a subsidiary, has committed to submit the wind farm to the statutory substitute consent process during Q2 2020.
Officials in my Department are in regular contact with the Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment (DCCAE), who, as a shareholder of and with corporate governance responsibility for the ESB, are dealing directly with ESB with respect to updates on the resolution of the judgment. The ESB has outlined its programme of measures comprising preparation of a Remedial Environmental Impact Statement, a Remedial Natura Impact Statement and Substitute Consent Application, all of which are necessary elements to comply with the substitute consent process. This information has recently been communicated to the European Commission.
No payment demand for daily fines accrued has yet been received from the European Commission. The daily fine rate was set by the EU Court of Justice at EUR 15 000 per day, to run from the date of the judgment (12 November 2019) until the date of compliance with the judgment. The daily fine accrued to date (9 June 2020) therefore stands at EUR 3,150,000.
The final extent of daily fines which will be incurred is dependent upon the progress of the ESB, the owner and operator of the Derrybrien Wind Farm, in the substitute consent process. The judgment will be satisfied once the substitute consent process is complete.
