Northern Ireland proposes major development threshold overhaul for energy projects

Northern Ireland could substantially redraw the procedural thresholds that decide when energy, storage, waste and extractive projects become major development, under a Department for Infrastructure consultation closing this week.

The proposals include raising the major threshold for onshore electricity-generating stations from 5MW to 10MW and the higher section 26(1) threshold from 30MW to 75MW. They would also create new capacity tests for battery and other energy storage, bring geothermal drilling into a renamed Extractive Industry class and add carbon capture installations to the Schedule.

This is not a change to the planning merits test. A scheme does not become more acceptable simply because its procedural category changes. What the thresholds can change is the route into the system, including pre-application community consultation, programme, council handling and when the Department becomes involved.

Major development is a procedural classification, not an easier planning test

The DfI consultation reviews the Schedule to the Planning (Development Management) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2015. That Schedule is effectively a screening framework. It decides whether a proposal falls into the local or major development route, and whether a higher threshold requires the section 26 process to start.

Major development is normally submitted to the relevant council, although the Department can call an application in under section 29 of the Planning Act (Northern Ireland) 2011. Major proposals are also subject to pre-application community consultation, known as PACC.

That has real programme consequences. Section 27 requires at least 12 weeks between giving the proposal of application notice and submitting the planning application. Since 1st August 2025, the prescribed PACC process includes at least one in-person public community consultation event and a dedicated website displaying draft proposals and collecting feedback.

The higher section 26(1) column is different again. Meeting that threshold does not automatically make a project regionally significant. The prospective applicant must consult DfI before moving into section 27. The Department then decides whether the proposal should be treated as regionally significant and submitted to DfI, or whether the planning application should proceed to the council.

That distinction matters when reading the headline numbers. A higher threshold can alter preparation and decision route without weakening policy, environmental assessment, amenity, design or any other material planning consideration.

Electricity major development threshold could rise from 5MW to 10MW

Class 2, Energy Infrastructure, would be substantially redesigned around what infrastructure does rather than the particular technology used. DfI says that should make the Schedule more durable as new forms of generation and storage emerge.

For generation, the proposed definition captures technology producing electricity or heat regardless of fuel source. The consultation expressly refers to wind, solar PV, biomass, gas, combined heat and power and advanced geothermal, alongside emerging marine, hybrid and other future technologies.

DfI has decided against creating a separate wind-farm category. Wind would instead sit within the general onshore electricity-generating station definition, alongside solar PV, geothermal and other technologies.

The practical effect is not that a 7MW generating scheme suddenly gains an easier path to permission. Under the proposal it would no longer cross the 10MW major threshold solely by output, so the major development procedures would not be triggered by this class. The planning authority would still assess the proposal against the development plan and all relevant material considerations.

Battery storage gets new MWh and GWh thresholds

The storage proposals are one of the most useful parts of the review because they separate power from stored energy. MW measures power at a point in time. MWh and GWh measure the amount of energy a system can store or deliver over time. Mixing those units would produce the wrong classification.

The proposed storage wording distinguishes the boundaries: major development starts at the stated capacity, while the higher section 26(1) threshold is exceeded only above the stated capacity. For example, the higher battery-storage threshold would apply above 1GWh.

The functional approach is deliberately broad. Battery energy storage is expressly included, while mechanical storage would cover technologies such as flywheels, pumped hydro and compressed air. Chemical storage is split between above-ground and below-ground installations, with lower thresholds below ground to reflect geotechnical, groundwater and long-term containment issues.

For developers, this makes the early capacity calculation a planning programme issue as well as an engineering one. A change in storage duration or configuration could move a project across a procedural threshold even where the site boundary barely changes.

Offshore generation would pull associated onshore works into the major route

DfI proposes that all onshore development associated with an offshore electricity-generating station should be major development. The higher section 26(1) threshold would be 75MW.

This again concerns classification, not consent for an offshore project as a whole. Advisers will need to identify exactly which onshore works fall within the description and then consider the wider consenting regime separately.

Waste thresholds would change in different ways

The waste proposals are more nuanced than a single new figure. For facilities dealing with hazardous waste, the current major threshold of more than 25,000 tonnes a year would be removed. The draft Schedule would classify any hazardous waste proposal as major development, while retaining a section 26(1) threshold where annual intake capacity exceeds 100,000 tonnes.

The consultation narrative also says DfI intends Department consultation for all proposals in that hazardous waste class. Practitioners should therefore distinguish that wider consultation intention from the separate 100,000 tonnes section 26(1) threshold in the draft Schedule.

For non-hazardous waste, the major threshold for incineration or chemical treatment would move away from more than 100 tonnes a day to annual intake capacity exceeding 25,000 tonnes. The higher threshold would remain more than 100,000 tonnes a year. Landfill of non-hazardous waste would also be added to the same description.

Those differences matter when scoping a project. Hazardous and non-hazardous facilities would not share the same gateway, and a change in waste stream or annual capacity could alter the procedural route.

Geothermal joins a renamed Extractive Industry class

Class 5 would be renamed from Minerals to Extractive Industry. DfI proposes a new sub-class for exploration or extraction of geothermal energy, with drilling at or beyond 200 metres triggering major development and drilling at or beyond 500 metres triggering the section 26(1) process.

Petroleum and natural gas exploration and extraction would also move into Class 5. Here the proposal is much stronger procedurally: any proposal relating to exploration or extraction of hydrocarbons would fall into both the major and section 26(1) columns. DfI says the Department would therefore be consulted on all proposals in that sub-class.

That is a useful reminder that the consultation is not simply about raising thresholds. Some activities would have new or broader routes into major development and Department involvement.

Carbon capture and storage would be added explicitly

The consultation also proposes a new carbon capture installations sub-class within Class 8, Business, Industry, Storage and Distribution. Any proposal relating to the underground storage or sequestration of carbon would be shown in both the major development and section 26(1) columns.

Class 2 pipeline wording would also be expanded to include the transport of carbon dioxide streams for geological storage. That helps connect carbon capture infrastructure with the wider network needed to move captured CO2 to a long-term storage location.

What the threshold review means for applicants and councils

The biggest risk is treating the consultation as a technical rewrite with little practical effect. Classification can shape the application timetable long before anyone reaches the merits of the proposal.

For applicants, advisers and landowners, the sensible early-stage questions are:

• Which revised class and sub-class would capture the proposal
• Which unit controls the threshold, particularly MW versus MWh or GWh
• Whether the scheme would cross the major development threshold
• Whether it would also cross the section 26(1) threshold and require early engagement with DfI
• Whether PACC, including the 12-week period, public event and dedicated website, needs to be built into the programme
• Whether a later design or capacity change could shift the project into a different procedural category

Councils would need equally clear validation and screening processes. A misclassification at the start could affect community engagement, statutory procedure, decision route and programme. Raising a threshold for one technology may reduce the number of projects entering the major route, while new storage, geothermal and carbon-capture classes could bring other projects into it more clearly.

The review also sits alongside other Northern Ireland planning changes. Planning Geek has separately covered DfI’s updated wind turbine noise guidance and the telecoms permitted development consultation. Those are distinct changes and should not be mixed with the Development Management Regulations thresholds reviewed here.

Consultation closes at 5pm on 9th October 2026

Infrastructure Minister Liz Kimmins said the proposals aim to “support more efficient processing of different types of development proposals within the planning system.” The consultation was launched on 14th August 2026 and closes at 5pm on Friday 9th October.

DfI has included a draft amending Statutory Rule in the consultation document, but these are still proposals. None of the revised thresholds should be treated as operative law unless and until the necessary Regulations are made and brought into force.

Planning Geek has hosted the full 33-page consultation document locally. Anyone working on a live Northern Ireland energy, storage, waste, geothermal, hydrocarbons or carbon-capture project should check the relevant draft Schedule wording rather than relying on a headline threshold alone.