Two Cork renewables projects appealed to planning board

By Peter McCarthy, Corkman

An Coimisiún Pleanála has received appeals for two renewable energy-related projects in County Cork, one a battery storage facility granted permission by Cork County Council in spite of strong local opposition and the other a 161-hectare solar farm that was refused planning permission by the local authority.

In July Cork County Council granted conditional planning permission to Neoen Renewables Ireland Limited for a battery storage facility with a 35-year operational life at Curraduff, Newmarket, despite receiving over 160 objections.

Last week concerned Newmarket residents held a public meeting to voice their opposition to the proposed battery facility. Locals are fearful that a fire in the site’s lithium-ion batteries could threaten their homes. They say the site would be situated in good quality agricultural land near a primary school, a healthcare centre, and a nursing home.

The Newmarket Environmental Protection Group (NEPG) and two other appellants have now appealed the council’s decision to the planning appeal board.

France-headquartered Neoen is a major player in the renewable energy sector with wind and solar farms in several countries. In County Cork, as well as two energy storage projects in early development in Newmarket and Knockraha, the company has operated a windfarm at Carherdowney since 2012.

The second appeal relates to Cork County Council’s decision last month to refuse planning permission to Aglish Solar Farm Limited for a 100 MW solar farm extending across fourteen townlands in the Lee Valley, citing archaeological concerns. Aglish Solar Farm Limited has now appealed that refusal to An Coimisiún Pleanála.

The company had applied for a 10-year permission to put solar panels on six parcels of land around the southern bank of the river Lee, about 25 km west of Cork city.

The local authority said that “the applicant has not demonstrated that sufficient archaeological investigations have been undertaken to guide the proposed development towards preserving in-situ potential archaeological features and thereby safeguarding archaeological heritage.”

Cork has become a hotspot for solar and wind farm proposals in recent years and local opposition to them has been steadily growing. The planning appeal board has a statutory objective to try to decide cases within 18 weeks.