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2024 TNEI Wind Farm Judicial Review Case Overview – Wind Turbine Noise As we approach February, we thought we would highlight an interesting Judicial Review case that TNEI was involved with last year in the Republic of Ireland. The case related to a consented wind farm whose approval was challenged by a local objector group (the Applicants). A number of challenges were presented, including the suggestion that the decision to consent the wind farm by An Bord Pleanála (the Board) had not properly considered all of the information presented to them i.e. the information that had been previously submitted by the Applicants and other objectors; the argument that the current Wind Energy Development Guidelines are out of date; and, the argument that there was a lack of consideration and assessment of Amplitude Modulation (AM). Many of these challenges were reminiscent of a previous case from 2019, (commonly referred to as

The pathway towards the decarbonisation of modern societies will inevitably drive unprecedented step increases in our electricity consumption. The power system in Ireland will be no different.  This is likely to involve more than a doubling of electricity consumption in a short period of time– driven by the widespread electrification of heat and transport, as well as the expected growth in large energy users (LEU) that will facilitate the growth in our usage of data-based technologies. Uncertainty surrounds how this change will exactly materialise – but irrespective of advances in demand reduction innovations and efficiency gains, the kind of demand growth that has taken nearly a century to materialise will need to be accommodated again in the next two to three decades.  The Ireland transmission network as of 2025 has been developed to manage a modest historical growth in demand – reaching today’s average demand of approximately 3.5GW and a

The Manchester office swapped their suits for boots as they partnered with The Conservation Volunteers (TCV) and were put to work maintaining meadows and paving paths for their volunteering day earlier this year in celebration of TNEI’s 25th Anniversary.   The team agreed there was no better way to celebrate the 25th anniversary of TNEI than to get their hands dirty helping local wildlife, rewarded afterwards by some well-earned food at the pub!  Our Manchester office employees are typically accustomed to a fairly sodden climate. However, on this particular Friday at Sale Water Park, an area of woodland, meadows and a lake in South Manchester, the sky was a brilliant blue and the sun was shining. The day was blessed from the get-go!  There were two tasks that the team got busy with: path construction and meadow management. Both tasks oxymoronically involved cutting back plants (which lumberjack Mustafa loved!) rather than

As Summer drew to a close this year, our Newcastle team spent one sunny Saturday paddling down the Tyne for a charity Dragon Boat Racing event on the Quayside.   Newcastle’s Dragon Boat Race is an annual event hosted by NE1 to raise money for charity whilst having a fun-filled day and bringing the community together. This year money was raised for The Great North Children’s Hospital Foundation, part of Newcastle Hospitals Charity, which supports the many children and their families who attend hospital for treatment and care, making their hospital experience the best it possibly can be.  The foundation supports life-changing research, cutting-edge equipment and technology as well as projects to make the hospital more welcoming for children.  After a breakfast butty and a warmup, the team were ready to take on the challenge! Captained by Jake Collins-May, the team named themselves ‘Smaug on the Tyne’ and took part in 3

The industry has a problem. The connections queue currently contains more than double the generation capacity that is required in Great Britain. This poses the question, how are the networks handling the overabundance of generation developments and how will their solutions impact the future of GB’s pipeline of renewable energy? What is the Connections Queue? The connection queue comprises projects waiting connection to the network, with generators now being offered connection dates into the late 2030s and almost 2040. As of 5th November 2024, NESO published in their Great Britain’s Connections Reform -Overview Document’ that the connection queue currently consists of over 750 GW of capacity. TNEI estimate that the current transmission queue, in addition to the distribution queue (>1 MW), could supply close to twice the required installed capacity for the most ambitious 2024 FES scenario (Holistic Transition) as seen in Figure 1. The connection queue continues to grow

African Penguins are on the brink of extinction, largely due to dwindling food sources caused by climate change and commercial fishing. With fewer than 10,000 breeding pairs left.   With this in mind, the whole of the TNEI Africa team spent a day of their time on a sunny day in October volunteering at SANCCOB seabird Sanctuary as their 25th Anniversary celebration. They definitely win the prize across the group for the most exotic volunteering location!    SANCCOB is a registered non-profit organisation whose primary objective is to reverse the decline of seabird populations through the rescue, rehabilitation and release of ill, injured, abandoned and oiled seabirds – especially endangered species like the African penguin.  Since working with these threatened birds takes specialist training, volunteers that visit the centre are normally assigned tasks that the penguin experts do not have time for. (There was more than one team member that was