Wednesday 25 February | 10.30am – 12.30pm
RenewableNI, in partnership with A&L Goodbody, held a seminar to discuss Northern Ireland’s planning system and the renewable electricity sector.
During the free seminar, delegates heard:
- key asks from the renewable sector for the Strategic Planning Policy Statement (SPPS);
- the impact of judicial reviews;
- experience of a developer and
- impact of delays from statutory consultees.
This was followed by an audience Q&A session that also included Sara Tinsley, RenewableNI Deputy Chair from Energia.
Planning seminar speakers
Madeleine Clarke,
Policy Analyst, RenewableNI
Madeline leads the Planning and Offshore working groups at RenewableNI.
She joined the organisation in June 2025 from co-parent company RenewableUK. Part of the EnergyPulse team for 18 months, Madeleine specialised in tracking Northern Ireland onshore wind and energy storage projects.
Micaela Diver,
Partner, Litigation & Dispute Resolution, A&L Goodbody
Micaela Diver is a partner in A&L Goodbody’s Litigation department in Belfast. Micaela specialises in Public & Regulatory law and is experienced in complex, high profile cases in the Northern Irish Commercial Court.
Micaela advises clients in both the public and private sector on contentious and non-contentious public procurement law matters, including large scale outsourcing and infrastructure projects. She also advises clients on competition law matters including compliance, merger control and private damages actions.
Micaela acts for clients in judicial reviews, statutory appeals, investigations (bribery and anti-corruption) and other inquiries across a variety of sectors including energy, utilities, health, transport, construction and the public sector.
Cara Hughes,
A&L Goodbody
Ryan McBirney,
Planning Director, Strategic Power Projects
With a career in planning spanning over 25 years, Ryan is recognised as a leading Town and Country Planning expert with a background in both public sector and private practice before moving ‘client side’ to oversee the development of utility scale Solar PV and Battery Energy Storage (BESS) projects for Strategic Power Projects across the island of Ireland.
Formerly a director at a leading Northern Ireland based planning consultancy, he oversaw client-related planning activity alongside a team of professional planning consultants as well as an in-house team of strategic communication and stakeholder engagement experts.
He has successfully advised public, private and third sector clients on planning and development projects of all sizes throughout Northern Ireland and Ireland, spanning all sectors including residential, commercial, healthcare, education, infrastructure, and energy, also representing private sector clients and the then planning authority at planning appeals and inquiries. Ryan built up significant experience in the energy sector representing large scale energy and renewable energy clients.
Before joining private sector consultancy, Ryan held posts within DoE Planning Service HQ and Belfast Divisional Planning Office.
