Proposed €500m energy facility substation a SID, says ABP

A planning application for an electrical substation that would connect a proposed €500m back up power plant and battery storage facility outside Rochfortbridge to the national grid will be considered by An Bord Pleanála as it has been deemed a Strategic Infrastructure Development (SID).

The documents submitted to An Bord Pleanála by Lumcloon Energy Limited, the Tullamore firm behind the proposed energy plant in the townlands of Kiltotan and Collinstown, includes details for the construction of a new GIS substation, comprising a 17m two-storey GIS building, two 23m single circuit high towers and two new mini electrical interface compounds, as well as a new entrance to the substation.

The proposed substation would connect the gas-fired back-up power station and battery storage facility, which Lumcloon plan to construct on the site if given the green light by Westmeath County Council, to the national grid.

In its inspector’s report on the pre-application consultation to determine whether the development could be classified as an SID, An Bord Pleanála noted that the proposed substation would transmit electricity in both directions, in a “loop in loop out” arrangement and that if given the go-ahead “will become an integral part of the national grid infrastructure”.

Last month, Westmeath County Council requested further information on Lumcloon’s planning applications for both the gas fired power station and battery storage facility.

There is significant opposition in the Rochfortbridge area to Lumcloon’s plans. More than 100 objections were lodged with Westmeath council by locals expressing concerns about the impact that the energy facility would have on their quality of life if is granted planning.

Opposition group the Rochfortbridge Power Plant Committee (RPPC) made a submission with over 300 signatures, in which the group expressed concerns about the “possible health effects” of “air pollutants”.

The group also claimed the construction of an industrial development “would destroy an important health and wellbeing resource”.

The submission also claims the development would devalue property and could affect wireless broadband and mobile phone services, and is in conflict with policies in the county development plan.

Speaking to Westmeath Examiner, shortly after the planning application was lodged in September, Lumcloon’s founder Nigel Reems said that the development would “provide reserve facilities to back up the national electricity grid. It is designed to assist with security and reliability of electricity supply and help to control upward pressure on prices to homeowners and businesses”.