Locals in East Cork meet to oppose 118-hectare solar farm plan

By Peter McCarthy, Corkman

Locals in East Cork are opposing another large solar farm proposal, one of many such applications made in the area in the past few years with a local councillor declaring they represent the “industrialisation” of the rural landscape.

The application seeks planning permission from Cork County Council is build a 118-hectare solar farm, battery energy storage system (BESS) and an underground electricity grid connection with a 40-year operational lifespan in Tibbotstown, around 2 km north of the town of Carrigtwohill.

The applicant is Puffin Solar Limited, which is owned by Power Capital Renewable Energy, a major player in the Irish renewables sector that also operates the nearby 153-hectare Lysaghtstown solar farm.

In a brochure sent to locals the company said the proposed solar farm would “generate and store renewable energy to contribute to the regeneration of our planet and people.” It also said it will set up a community benefit fund to support local community initiatives during the lifetime of the facility and will work to maintain and replace hedgerows where necessary.

The Tibbotstown Action Group has been set up to oppose the development and held a meeting in Leamlara this week which attracted dozens of locals. A spokesperson for the group told the Irish Independent that they’re concerned about the loss of farmland, construction noise, property devaluation, and the risk of flooding because of run-off from the solar panels.

One of their main concerns is that any toxic run-off from the site during construction or from the solar farm’s batteries could contaminate the Tibbotstown reservoir, which provides water to thousands of people in the surrounding area.

Fermoy Councillor Peter O’Donoghue said East Cork is being inundated with planning applications for solar farms. “We're seeing the industrialisation of East Cork. We're seeing our beautiful rural landscape now being industrialised and we don't have any proper planning guidelines or planning regulations,” he told the Irish Independent.

“You could draw a straight line from Carrigtwohill, Leamlara, Bartlemy, Castlelyons and then you go up to Knockraha, there's solar farms going in there, and then you go down to Midleton, go down to Inch and Killeagh, there’s a thousand acres being sought to be put in there and then if you go further on into Charleville there's 700 acres actually being developed there at the moment.”

The Independent councillor said farm owners in East Cork are being “harassed” to turn over their land to solar projects. “They’re being constantly approached and visited by representatives of these companies. I would use the word harass because that's what's happening, when they're told no they keep coming back.”

Objectors to the Tibbotstown solar farm proposal have until October 28 to enter a submission to the planning process. Cork County Council’s decision on the application is due by November 17.