A clampdown on the transport of extra-heavy loads on Irish roads is slowing new power plant development and threatening to boost electricity bills, energy industry figures warn.
The push to meet the Republic’s surging electricity demand and hit climate targets has increased the need to transport “abnormally” heavy equipment, some of it weighing up to 570 tonnes, on the State’s roads.
But Government rules introduced last year demanding full surveys of planned routes for these loads are slowing development and adding to costs, energy industry groups say.
Branding the Government’s approach “onerous”, Noel Cunniffe, chief executive of Wind Energy Ireland, said it makes it harder and more expensive to move large electricity transformers, which are vital for strengthening the national grid, around the Republic.
READ MORE
“It will also push up costs for moving parts of some of the newer and more efficient turbines, which will mean higher prices for consumers,” he said on Monday.
Another source cited the example of one developer who recently had to pay €750,000 for surveys to move equipment for a solar farm the business was building.
Under the new rules, anyone transporting equipment weighing more than 180 tonnes must assess all bridges on their proposed route and get a third party to check this, before getting permits to move the load from local councils.
Wind Energy Ireland says it had a recent case where a member needed to survey 144 bridges, while 40-90 would be normal.
The Department of Transport introduced the new requirements last September after emergency generators needed to shore up electricity supplies were stranded in Dublin Port for a long period.
The rules do not just apply to the energy industry. However, the rate at which it is building new power plants and the equipment needed to generate electricity, leave it more exposed than most sectors to the regulations.
A department spokesman confirmed that the requests from the industry to move “abnormally heavy” loads were increasing.
“Numerous loads programmed to be moved over the coming years are far in excess of 180 tonnes, with some large generators identified by the energy sector as up to 570 tonnes,” he said.
However, modern bridges are designed to take 180 tonnes while older ones can only handle much lower weights.
The spokesman explained that the rules introduced in a circular last year were designed to clarify the assessment process.
“The increase in movement of exceptionally heavy abnormal loads puts the road and bridge network at significant risk of damage or indeed failure, with clear implications for other road users,” he said.
The spokesman said the Departments of Transport, and Climate, Energy and Environment were working to tackle the technical and administrative difficulties involved and to ensure experts were hired to manage the process in coming years.
