Chapter 5 I Climate Change and the Environment
5.33 Where appropriate, Cork City Council will also seek to facilitate infrastructure such as grid facilities on the land side of any renewable energy proposals of the offshore wind resource, in accordance with the principles of the National Marine Planning Framework (See also Chapter 9 Environmental Infrastructure and Management).
will be supported at appropriate locations where there will be no significant adverse impacts on the receiving environment in terms of amenity, flood risk and water quality, transport safety (including air travel), built, natural and cultural heritage, biodiversity and landscape character. 5.37 This could extend to small scale wind, biomass generators, anaerobic digestion plants and other energy from waste technologies and ground mounted solar panels at a utility scale. Renewable and low carbon energy generation also has the potential to assist in supporting the rural economy and safely converting agricultural waste to energy at a local scale through anaerobic digestion facilities. 5.38 Though limited by its predominantly urban setting, Cork City will work with stakeholders in renewable energy research and delivery to assist in realising plans to decarbonise the energy sector in the region and nationally.
Renewable and Low Carbon Energy in Buildings
5.34 In supporting the compact, connected and sustainable growth of Cork City to 2028, all development proposals are encouraged to consider the use of renewable energy infrastructure from the project inception stage. This should as a minimum include the exploration of roof-top solar photovoltaic panels, solar thermal collector panels and ground or air source heat pumps but depending on the locational circumstances and nature of the development proposal, there will be opportunities to consider other forms of renewable and low carbon energy generation.
District Heating Opportunities
5.39 District heating is a distribution network of insulated pipes that carry heat from a central source and delivers it to a number of buildings within the network. The heat source can vary and could include a facility that provides a dedicated supply to the heat network, such as a combined heat and power plant; or heat recovered from industry and urban infrastructure, or energy from waste plants. 5.40 In accommodating more compact and sustainable patterns of development, Cork City Council will assess the feasibility to deliver district heating across the City. Future growth areas which may be compatible to District Heating systems include, but are not restricted to, the Cork City Docklands, Tivoli Docklands and the Cork Science and Innovation Park. See further details in Chapter 11.
Sustainable Energy Generation – Standalone Projects
5.35 The national emissions reductions targets set out in the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development (Amendment) Bill 2021 will necessitate multifaceted strategies to decarbonise the energy sector. The MaREI Report, ‘Our Climate Neutral Future Zero by 50’ (March 2021) forecasts that for the sector to reach zero net carbon emissions by 2050, approximately 25 GW of renewable electricity capacity by 2050 is required compared to the 4.5 GW capacity today. 5.36 Therefore, in addition to supporting renewable and low carbon energy as a component part of development schemes, the development of standalone renewable/low carbon energy projects
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Cork City Development Plan 2022-2028 I Volume 1
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