Ireland's brave renew world...

Europe-wide initiative set to boost solar and wind power

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IRELAND is sitting on a renewable energy gold mine, and now a new plan may have the solution to overcoming one of the biggest obstacles to tapping into it.

Local protests and planning rows have been cited for holding up many plans to ramp up wind and solar power installations.

But a coalition of groups across Europe has drawn up a charter that is being hailed as a breakthrough for overcoming protests.

Local objections to factors like the location, size, impacts and too few shared benefits of new building projects have been a major barrier to developments. The issue has hampered delivery of EU renewable energy targets, which are off-track in many countries.

FAIR

Now development time could be cut significantly for new wind, solar and electricity grid connection projects thanks to agreement on what developers, civil society, local governments and other groups are calling a 'fair' way to build.