300 acre solar farm plan for near Ballynacargy
Kildallan Solar Farm, a new company formed by Harmony Solar, intend to apply for planning to Westmeath County Council to construct a solar farm approximately 1.3km east of Ballynacargy, and 9.7km north west of Mullingar.
The proposed site is 129 hectares (318 acres) on three unconnected parcels of land in the townlands of Ballyhug, Ballysallagh (Tuite), and Kill. There would be underground cables connecting the parcels, to be placed in the roads at Ballyhoreen, Balroe, Toor Commons and possibly Ballysallagh (Fox).
According to the company website, a 10-year permission is “likely” to be sought, and it is intended that the application will be lodged in the first half of 2024.
The land is owned by local landowners who will lease it to Harmony Solar Kildallan Ltd for the duration of the project. Once the solar farm is built, landowners can continue to graze sheep on the land.
The solar farm will connect to the grid through a cable under the Ballynacargy Mullingar road (R393), to connect to the existing 110kV high voltage cables in Slanemore. This cable will run for approximately 6.8km below the road.
Harmony Solar have already secured planning for solar farms in Counties Clare, Kildare, Kilkenny, Longford, Louth, Meath, Westmeath and Wexford, and state that those will help Ireland to reduce dependence on fossil fuels and enable more stable electricity prices.
The solar farm will comprise PV panels, ground mounted frames, and ancillary infrastructure. Solar panels will be 2mx1m panels joined together on a metal frame. The panels will be installed in multiple rows and connected to inverters and transformer modules. Panel arrays will be a maximum of 3.2m high.
Electricity will be exported to the national grid through a connection point 6.8km from the proposed solar farm site.
The solar farm will be surrounded by secure fencing. Existing field boundaries will be maintained and hedgerows may be enhanced in order to visually screen the project from public view, where possible. A number of biodiversity zones will be included within the solar farm.
The proposed access to the solar farm will be off the existing local road network. Two parcels will have access via R393 regional road and the third parcel will be accessed via Tristernagh local road (L5808).
The project is likely to compete in a Renewable Electricity Support Scheme (RESS) auction to sell the renewable electricity generated to the electricity grid.
A key feature of RESS is a community benefit fund, through which a portion of the project income will be allocated to local communities for the 15-year duration of the RESS contract. The fund can be used for the economic, environmental, social and cultural wellbeing of the community. The fund size depends on the size of the solar farm and the quantity of energy produced.
For further information, see kildallansolarfarm.ie.