East Cork residents raise concerns over 442 acre solar farm plan

Residents of Leamlara in East Cork have raised concerns about a large solar farm currently going through the planning process, saying that developments like this should be managed by the government instead of private companies.

Developer Ballysallagh Solar Farm Limited has applied for a 10 year planning permission for a solar farm with a total area of circa 179 hectares, or 442 acres. The operational lifespan of the solar farm will be 40 years, the developer said.

A member of a committee opposing the proposed development, Califf Delaney, whose house will be bordered on three sides by the solar farm, said that the landscape of their area and its “lovely rolling hills” will be covered in glass if planning permission is granted.

He told The Echo: “We are not NIMBYs or climate change deniers, we are not against renewable energy. I have solar panels on my own roof and they’re brilliant, I’d recommend them to anyone – it’s about how these developments are being led.

“These solar farms are being foisted onto communities with no consultation, and it’s being driven by private companies instead of the government or councils.

“The government have outsourced this, but the private sector is not the panacea for something as seismic as solar farms, the private sector only cares about profit.” 

He explained that if the government or council were in charge, there would be a public consultation scheme, but instead “all we got was a notice on the side of the road saying a solar farm was coming our way soon, and they dropped a brochure to around 35 homes, but we’ve counted 300 that will be affected.” The planning permission will go through the usual planning channels with the council similar to residential developments, which he said was “not robust enough”.

 The community are also worried about the environmental impact of such a change to the landscape, which they fear could lead to flooding or impact local wildlife.

A spokesperson for the department of the environment, climate and communications said that a cross-government Accelerating Renewable Electricity Taskforce has been established to “accelerate and increase” the deployment of onshore renewable electricity generation.

The taskforce is “identifying and prioritising the required policies needed to achieve our onshore renewable electricity targets and ensuring that barriers to the implementation of these policies are removed or minimised to the greatest extent possible”.