UK-headquartered developer Renewable Energy Systems (RES) has successfully secured planning permission for a 29.9MW solar PV power plant in Northern Ireland.
Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon Borough Council awarded full planning consent for the Magheralin Solar Farm, which will be located in County Down, Northern Ireland, around a kilometre south of the village of Magheralin.
While the developer has not yet stated when it expects construction to begin, RES has said that the construction phase of the project is expected to take around 40 weeks. The developer also expressed its keenness to bring value to the local economy during this time by working with local contractors.
The Magheralin Solar Farm will be spread across four parcels of land. The solar PV modules will be mounted a minimum of 0.5 meters above the ground and at an angle between ten and 40 degrees to capture the most light.
Rachel Buchanan, senior development project manager for RES, said that the developer is pleased that the council’s planning committee voted to approve the application as recommended by the case officer for the project. She added: “Our Magheralin proposal is a well-designed project which will effectively combine clean, low-cost electricity generation with continued agricultural use and biodiversity enhancement”.
Permission has been granted for a 40-year operational lifespan, after which time the land will be returned to its original state. RES has stated that it has developed a plan to boost biodiversity on the site by planting new trees and hedgerows, and sheep grazing will continue on the site during its operational time.
On this, Buchanan noted: “Sheep farming supports rural economies and enables a rich diversity of wildlife, while producing food. Furthermore, where a solar farm is installed on land which has been intensively farmed, it enables the ground underneath to recover, helping to ensure the continued availability of quality agricultural acreage for future generations.”
Last month, RES announced that the Planning Inspectorate had accepted the developer’s application for examination for a proposed solar-plus-storage Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project (NSIP). The Steeple Renewables Project has now entered the pre-examination phase of the NSIP approval process; if approved, the site will combine up to 400MW of solar energy generation and a 200MW battery energy storage system (BESS) on land located near the decommissioned West Burton Power Station.
