Strategic Planning, Environment and Biodiversity

The Appropriate Assessment (AA) process is required under the EU Habitats Directive. Appropriate Assessment assesses the potential adverse effects of a plan or project. They make sure nature conservation sites are protected from development. AA Screening determines if Appropriate Assessment is required.

EirGrid is the decision-making body for AA Screening for projects which do not require planning permission. Our ecological experts assess the nature, scale and duration of effects from all projects on European sites.

Our assessment includes construction and operation stages of a project. It also considers temporary work, such as construction compounds and machinery access routes. We consider both:

EirGrid’s AA Screening of a project has two outcomes: 

AA Required

If AA is required, projects which don't require planning permission lose their exempted status. In this case, we say a project has been ‘screened in’ for AA. Under this scenario, we seek planning permission for the project from the relevant planning authority. 

AA Not Required

If AA is not required, we document the assessment findings and publish an AA Screening determination. See the AA screening determinations for projects not requiring planning permission. 

Our projects vary greatly, from simple repairs to new infrastructure. We screen all projects for Appropriate Assessment, regardless of scale. For projects which require planning permission, we identify and mitigate environmental impacts to:

This is reported in either 'Planning and Environmental Considerations Reports' (PECR) or 'Environmental Impact Assessment Reports' (EIAR). 

Planning and Environmental Considerations Reports (PECR)

PECRs give an overview of the main planning and environmental considerations for a project. These reports are submitted as part of planning applications to local authorities. Find all project-specific environmental reports on the relevant planning authority websites. 

Depending on legal requirements, we produce EIARs for certain new infrastructure projects.

An Bord Pleanála decides if certain projects are of strategic national importance. 

For these projects, we have a unique project website for planning documentation. 

Every five years, our grid plans policies go through Strategic Environmental Assessments (SEA). At the same time, we carry out Appropriate Assessment. We integrate feedback from state and other agencies and the public when we scope the SEA, on the draft plan and on SEA reporting. 

Every year, we produce Transmission Development Plans (TDP) to record changes to the five-year plan. We consult our regulator CRU on every TDP. The CRU then publishes the draft plan for public consultation on their website. We also review these TDPs for Strategic Environmental Effects.

In 2024, we published the SEA of our Grid Implementation Plan (IP) 2023-2028. This plan sets out the policies and objectives required to sustainably deliver onshore and offshore  grid and interconnector development. 

This development is essential to achieve the Government's 2030 target of 80% renewable energy 

 In summary the stages, culminating in adoption of the IP, following SEA were:

Revision of SEA Scoping report (linked below) following consultation  - February 2023

If you have any comments or questions on EirGrid's SEA process, please address them to statutorynotifications@eirgrid.com, or in writing to 

EirGrid Planning and Environmental Unit (Public Engagement, Chief Infrastructure Office)
EirGrid plc 
The Oval 
160 Shelbourne Road 
Ballsbridge 
Dublin 4 
D04 FW28

We are continuing the regular environmental monitoring of the entire portfolio of projects in our Grid Implementation Plans.

This delivers on our obligations under  Article 10 of the Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) Directive 2001/42/EC.

One objective of this so-called ‘SEA-related monitoring’ is to identify unforeseen environmental effects to inform remedial action.

Another objective is to identify data gaps in our environmental assessments, which we seek to fill through consultation or use of refined analyses. 

We have published the results of implementing our SEA-related monitoring for Years 1 (2023) and Year 2 (2024) of our latest Grid Implementation Plan 2023-2028.

The summary dashboard linked below identifies the status of 15 key indicators (of a total of 22) across Biodiversity, Population and Human and Health, Cultural Heritage, and Geology (15 of 22 indicators presented).

A full set of results for all SEA monitoring indicators will be available online in due course. 

The format and approach of EirGrid’s SEA monitoring is a product of EirGrid’s regular engagement with the National SEA forum.

The National SEA Forum is chaired by the Environmental Protection Agency and attended by public bodies including the Irish government departments comprising the ‘Environmental Authorities’.

In winter 2025, we will launch our ambitious ‘Biodiversity Strategic Plan 2025-2035”

This is our ten-year policy vision, closely aligned with the Irish Governments Fourth National Biodiversity Action Plan .

The Strategic Plan will formalise policies and associated metrics for the many existing nature protection and restoration activities which now form ‘Business As Usual’ at EirGrid’.

Importantly, the Strategic Plan also identifies many new initiatives EirGrid is undertaking to benefit nature, people, and the wider ecosystem.

Please check in back soon to review our new Strategic Plan. 

Deriving from the Grid Implementation Plan 2023-2028, and consistent with the provisions of the SEA, EirGrid is publishing a suite of regional plans (to be known as Strategic Framework documents) for the three regions of Ireland – the Northern & Western, Eastern & Midland, and Southern regions. 

These plans allow for a greater focus on grid infrastructure development at a regional level, and EirGrid’s approach to development. 

These are intended to provide information at a regional level to statutory stakeholders and the general public.

Northern and Western Regional Plan 

EirGrid is acting on the twinned biodiversity and climate crises in many ways beyond delivering it accelerated delivery of critical grid to access clean energy.

Whilst prioritising the mitigation hierarchy, EirGrid is restoring nature onshore and offshore while building out the grid, on EirGrid-owned lands, and in communities (via our Community Benefit Fund).

Our vision for Nature Restoration was formally identified in 2022, when our Chief Infrastructure Office committed to restoration onshore and offshore in our ‘EirGrid Nature Inclusive Design Pilots’ document.

Following this, we articulated detailed nature restoration policies and objectives in our Grid Implementation Plan 2023-2028.

At substations, we are using wetlands in lieu of hard engineered storage tanks for both flood storage and pollution control.

At Claycastle Beach, where the Celtic Interconnector makes landfall, we have planted marram grass to bolster the revegetating foredunes against coastal erosion  

These are some examples of where EirGrid is following government policy to employ so-called ‘Nature-Based’ solutions as a cost-effective means of resolving  societal problems

In terms of protected fauna species, we are proud to have recently designed and collaborated with ESB in the construction of an artificial bat house at Oldstreet Substation, Co. Galway.

The artificial bat house was designed with the close collaboration of licensed Irish bat expert Dr. Tina Aughney.

Through a combination of different bat survey techniques including thermal imagery cameras, Dr. Aughney has confirmed the bat house is home to three times’ more species than the farmhouse it was constructed to replace.

Offshore, we are committed to trialling emerging nature-friendly designs for our  offshore substation platforms, and export cable protection.

These so-called ‘Marine Nature Inclusive Design’ measures include attaching ‘fish hotels’ to offshore substations, and using cold water reef-forming (low embodied) concrete where we protect our cables and substation foundations

We have worked closely with industry experts ARC Marine to develop a specification to apply to future grid projects.

Already, we are integrating these designs into our Powering Up Offshore South Coast project off the Cork, Waterford, and Wexford projects.

We have published guidelines for the industry to assess and mitigate impacts of transmission projects on ecology and cultural heritage. 

We have also published studies on how the electricity grid interacts with the natural and human environment.

Supporting Ireland’s fourth National Biodiversity Action Plan (2023-2028) and second Open Data Strategy (2023-2030), EirGrid is helping to strengthen the knowledge base for nature conservation, management, and sustainable use of biodiversity. 

EirGrid submitted 4,143 ecological records to the National Biodiversity Data Centre (NBDC) in Financial Year 2025, an increase of 78% compared to Financial Year 2024. 

Our total NBDC record submission to date now exceeds 12,000 records. 

These records are of animal and/or plant sighting at a particular time and location. 

The records help inform future development and are an essential source of data to guide conservation research on species trends over time, so we require anyone working on EirGrid projects to compile them

In response to concerns voiced by certain European fishers associations on the impact of Electromagnetic Field (EMFs) on fisheries, 50Hertz, Europacable, EirGrid, TenneT and RGI collaborated to fund a combination of lab and field studies on EMFs in relation to commercially important flatfish species, specifically European flounder (Platichthys flesus).

The findings of this novel laboratory research were:

The above finding of a “no stress response” is a positive for The Irish state’s offshore journey, and the fisheries communities affected.

Detailed findings are reported in the peer-reviewed scientific journal article by Chapman et al. 2025 freely available here:

Effects of electromagnetic fields on flatfish activity levels - ScienceDirect