Solar farm planning appeals to An Bord Pleanala

bozd

So I have posted before my position on 'solar pv farm for Blessington' by Hoagy ,as being against an application next door to me - our small community bandied together to do it. However the decision time is coming in May and my feeling is Pleanala will just approve the hundreds of such appeals enmass to fulfil the govs policy on renewable energy - what I am putting out here is there anyone or someone knows of anyone who is in a similar situation to us - has an appeal in with pleanala.

We would like to make contact with others similar to ourselves as we believe government is failing to formulate a national strategy and small communities like ours are going to suffer for that.

Private message me if you wish.

thanks

gctest50

You wouldn't want to be using mickey mouse objections like : " the road/ entrance is too narrow for the trucks when building it"

or they might cop on to using a helicopter

- build it all into sections and drop them in

bozd

This is a huge project and will take 1 to 2 years to install and get going but we are close to electric running from windturbines closeby it is definitely a truck delivered project - 60 acres of panels that will be facing directly into neighbours houses.

gctest50

Soz - i think you missed my point

If the road is bad or the entrance is narrow

- they'd just need a "staging" area nearby that has good access

ted1

bozd wrote: »

This is a huge project and will take 1 to 2 years to install and get going but we are close to electric running from windturbines closeby it is definitely a truck delivered project - 60 acres of panels that will be facing directly into neighbours houses.

Ideally they should face the sun. As opposed to your neighbours house.

Until there’s a REFIT set nothing will happen.

bozd

my main point is that the site is surrounded by houses, some that will be facing the panels - nearby fields without houses have been forested - more of a suitable site and would be less of an impact on house dwellers its the fact that no national strategy has been laidout giving guidelines relating to house density or proximity to houses. Hundreds of applications are objecting to this no holds barred approach to an issue that should be planned not just to whatever farmer signs up to it - that is not a cohesive strategy that will have long term impacts on many levels.

I agree with renewable energy and in solar energy but not at any cost

ted1

I’m failing to see what relevance proximity to houses have.

What concerns do you have about it?
It should like if they planted trees around the site boundary you’d concerns would be eliminated

Rigor Mortis

Bord Pleanala have to take Government policy into account when making a decision, but not at the expense of proper planning considerations. If they did that there wouldnt be a wind farm refused in this country, because we are not going to make 2020 targets.

In relation to Guidelines, plenty of development types dont have guidelines. While I think we should have them, its not an excuse not to develop. Even if they began developing guidelines now, with a required Environmental reporting it would take at least a year to complete. The Courts have been very clear, that a lack of guidelines is not a reason for refusing a permission. That has been argued very recently on the back of a Bord Pleanala inspector who argued the opposite in relation to a wind farm.

The reason there is less of a need for guideliness for solar is pretty obvious, a solar panel is about 8 or 9 feet high, a wind turbine is 180m high.

60 acres for a solar farm isnt particularly big and with proper screening it shouldnt be visible to any great degree. It also shouldnt take anywhere near two years to build. They will definitely need to be delivered by lorry though. A decent traffic management plan should reduce but not eliminate inconvenience.

Its either a well designed project or its not. If it is it should get planning. If its not it shouldnt.

There is a very strong chance there will be a REFIT (RESS) in June. A bigger issue in terms of timing is grid connection. If they dont have their grid connection they are at the back of a long queue.

bozd

glint to houses overlooking site - other side of valley makes it impossible to stop glare as trees to mask 9 foot panels would have to be planted close to house as boundary of site stops other side of valley. The site is dissected by our lane and will be a working area not with one access but several meaning treating the lane as part of the site rather then convenience of one entrance. what annoys our community is the number of thick reports produced - doesnt bear resemblence to what is on the ground - omitted houses facing directly into panels, guessed at glint and glare minutes - look my request here on boards.ie is to link up with others in our situation not go into detailed discussion the pros and cons of solar.

PoulM

60 acres of solar farm? Is it for hot water or PV? I am a bit surprised of the size - 60 acres - as it is rather costly to set up PV panels under a sky one can expect to be cloudy most of the time. And if it's for hot water, is there a town nearby? Do you have a source? You mention Blessington - is it the Blessington in Wicklow?

ted1

PoulM wrote: »

60 acres of solar farm? Is it for hot water or PV? I am a bit surprised of the size - 60 acres - as it is rather costly to set up PV panels under a sky one can expect to be cloudy most of the time. And if it's for hot water, is there a town nearby? Do you have a source? You mention Blessington - is it the Blessington in Wicklow?

Sarcasm doesn’t carry well in text.

I was involved in commissioning a 3MW solar farm last week. It was 15 acres

Rigor Mortis

bozd wrote: »

glint to houses overlooking site - other side of valley makes it impossible to stop glare as trees to mask 9 foot panels would have to be planted close to house as boundary of site stops other side of valley. The site is dissected by our lane and will be a working area not with one access but several meaning treating the lane as part of the site rather then convenience of one entrance. what annoys our community is the number of thick reports produced - doesnt bear resemblence to what is on the ground - omitted houses facing directly into panels, guessed at glint and glare minutes - look my request here on boards.ie is to link up with others in our situation not go into detailed discussion the pros and cons of solar.

Define 'our lane'. Is it in private ownership? Just curious.