Cork’s Black Ash bus hub could feature large-scale solar farm under new plan

City officials to examine the feasibility of including solar panels as part of proposed redevelopment of park-and-ride site

Cork City Council and the National Transport Authority are seeking planning permission to develop a major new bus interchange at Black Ash park and ride as part of BusConnects Cork.

A solar farm could be built as part of a major bus interchange hub project in Cork city.

City officials have agreed to examine the feasibility of including a solar panel array "at scale" as part of the proposed redevelopment of the Black Ash park-and-ride site as a bus interchange hub.

The photovoltaic (PV) panels would be installed on car park canopies on the site, Green Party councillor Oliver Moran suggested.

He said the array could be connected to the existing electricity generation infrastructure at Tramore Valley Park, just across the N27 South City Link road, where the generation of electricity from methane gas has been ongoing for over a decade.

“I think it’s a natural progression that builds on the electricity generation at Tramore Valley Park as the gas produced by the old landfill tapers off,” Mr Moran said.

“Across the road, we have a large open south-facing site suitable for a solar farm. At face value, it could be plugged into the equipment we already have at Tramore Valley Park and continue that electricity generation.

It checks the boxes as showing both leadership as a city on renewables and being ‘real’ in the sense of being a financial net benefit to the city. 

"That’s the kind of project that shows our credentials as an EU mission city to be climate neutral. It being connected with public transport is a nice overlapping of different dimensions of climate action too.” 

Mr Moran raised the idea as Cork City Council was preparing its Part 8 planning notice in collaboration with the National Transport Authority last month for the expansion and redevelopment of the Black Ash park-and-ride facility just off the Kinsale Road roundabout as a major new bus interchange.

If approved, the new facility would accommodate six new bus services proposed as part of BusConnects, all designed to enhance connectivity between places like Cork University Hospital, UCC, Cork Airport and Kent Railway Station, and its capacity would more than quadruple — from six bus services an hour to 26.

City officials agreed to investigate the feasibility of a solar farm there and have confirmed they are examining potential layout options.

“We aim to seek further clarity regarding the connection point for the solar car ports — whether they would be for behind-the-meter consumption or export, depending on grid connection possibilities,” said Paul Moynihan, the council’s director of services for local area development and operations.

“Additionally, the potential crossing of the N27 for connection requires further examination."

Over a decade ago, the city council became the first local authority in the country to acquire a special licence to generate electricity in its own right at the former Kinsale Road landfill, which was being remediated as Tramore Valley Park.

As part of the €40m remediation, the former dump was capped and a network of pipes was laid to collect the methane gas generated as waste degrades.

The gas was delivered to an electricity generator, which fed the power via a private energy company into the national grid.

At its peak, enough electricity was being generated to power up to 500 homes, but the gas is now running out.