Locals oppose proposal for solar farm in West Cork

West Cork group lodges appeal against council planning decision

A local community group in West Cork is fighting plans for one of the largest solar farms proposed to date in the county.

The Finnis-Mishells Solar Free Valley Group is opposing the development of a 13.1 megawatt solar farm at a large site around 4km north-west of Bandon.

The group has lodged an appeal with An Bord Pleanála against the recent decision of Cork County Council to grant planning permission for the project subject to 22 conditions.

BNRG Neoen Holdings, a Dublin-based renewable energy firm, are seeking to build the solar farm consisting of 40,000 solar panels on a 40 hectare site in the townlands of Finnis and Mishells.

The cost of the project is estimated at more than €13m and it will generate energy to power the equivalent of around 1,750 homes per annum.

Although it is supportive of renewable energy, the Finnis-Mishells Solar Free Valley Group expressed concern that Ireland had witnessed hundreds of “speculative applications” for solar farms in the past 18 months in the absence of national guidelines for the development of such projects.

“This policy vacuum creates a situation whereby opportunistic developers are taking advantage of the situation and trying to push through poorly thought out applications without consideration for the environment or rural communities,” said the group’s chairman, Michael Walsh.

To date, Cork County Council has granted planning permission for 10 solar farms, while another 12 are under consideration.

Mr Walsh expressed concern about the scale of the Finnis-Mishells solar farm when most similar projects had a capacity of 4-5MW.

“It should be considered that the proposed development would be a prominent and obtrusive feature in the beautiful Ballymahane River valley landscape,” he said.

The group claimed the solar farm, if allowed to proceed, would turn the area into “a large-scale industrial zone”.

Mr Walsh said locals were also worried about the potential devaluation of their properties, with one local auctioneer predicting the proximity to a solar farm would reduce the value of homes by up to 30%.

Other concerns about soil contamination, noise, and glint and glare have also been raised with the planning appeals authority.

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Local residents are also concerned about the suitability of narrow local roads with poor surfaces to handle any construction traffic without posing a major road safety hazard as well as the potential threat from high voltage electricity wires connected to the solar farm.

Mr Walsh said it was highly objectionable that the two landowners who owned the sites for the proposed solar farm — Jerry Moynihan of Ballygarvan and Dan Murphy of Bandon — were not residents of the area.

He also called on BNRG to provide subsidised electricity, upgraded roads and high-speed broadband to the local community to improve its engagement with residents in Finnis and Mishells.

BNRG was founded by David Maguire, a former EPA official who is also chairman of the Irish Solar Energy Association.

The company has a portfolio of 260MW of projects spread across 24 different locations under development in the Republic which it aims to construct between 2019 and 2022. It has valued its investment in renewable energy in Ireland at €275m.

To date it has completed and sold 44 solar farms worth €230m in Britain, Northern Ireland, Bulgaria and Greece, while it is also developing new projects in the US and Australia estimated at €693m.

An Bord Pleanála is expected to issue a decision in the case in early 2019.