Green light for solar farm on a 25.1 hectares site in Kilkenny
Kilkenny County Council have granted planning permission (subject to conditions) to BNRG Rosehill Limited for the development of a solar farm on the outskirts of Kilkenny City
BNRG Rosehill Limited have been granted planning permission (subject to 27 conditions) to develop a 25.1 hectares site within the townlands of Castleblunden, Drakeland Middle, Clonmoran, Mortgagefields [sic], Poulgour, Wetland and Archersleas, County Kilkenny.
The development will consist of planning permission for a period of ten years to construct and complete a solar PV energy development, battery storage and grid route.
This will comprise of the construction of PV panels mounted on metal frames, MV Power Stations, substation, batteries, MV stations, new access tracks, underground cabling and ducting, perimeter fencing with CCTV cameras and access gates.
Also planned is a temporary construction compound, 10kV underground cabling connecting the solar farm to the existing Rosehill 38kV substation, and all ancillary grid infrastructure and associated works.
The proposed development consists of works within the curtilage of protected structures and the development ‘would be operational for 40 years’.
Amongst the 27 conditions that Kilkenny County Council have attached to the project, is the condition that “prior to commencement of development, a detailed restoration plan, including a timescale for its implementation, providing for the removal of the solar arrays, including all foundations, anchors, inverter/transformer stations, control building, CCTV cameras, fencing and site access to a specific timescale, shall be submitted to, and agreed in writing with, the planning authority.”
Another condition is that the applicant “shall retain the services of a suitably qualified archaeologist to advise on and establish 20 metre radius concentric buffer zones — comprising an inner exclusion buffer zone measuring 10 metres and an outer no-dig buffer zone measuring 10 metres — around the externalmost elements of the archaeological features identified...”
The applicant is required to employ a suitably qualified archaeologist to monitor all ground disturbance required for this development. No groundworks of any type (including any enabling works or advance site investigations) are to take place in the absence of the archaeologist without his/her express consent.
The developer has been commanded to “ensure that all operations on site are carried out in a manner such that noise, air emissions and/or odours do not result in significant impairment of, or significant interference with, amenities or the environment beyond the site.”
The coucil noted that the proposed construction of the grid connection “is likely to require a road closure which may take up to six weeks to arrange”.
The applicant, as a result, “shall be responsible for arranging the statutory notices and advertising through Kilkenny County Council and shall cover all associated costs. The diversion route and traffic management plan shall be agreed with the Municipal District Engineer prior to commencement.”
Prior to the commencement of any development on the national road, the applicant must ensure co-ordination with and the prior approval of the road authority and demonstrate compliance with all relevant TII standards.