More than 500ac worth of solar farms have been refused planning permission over the past week.
Two major solar farm projects - a 214ac solar farm in Westmeath and a 311ac solar farm in Cork - failed to secure planning permission from their respective local authorities.
Rathcoursey Solar Farm Ltd was denied planning permission for a 311ac solar farm in Cork. The application received over 80 submissions, most of which were objections against the project.
The solar farm would have consisted of 532,000 square metres of ground-mounted panels and would’ve operated for 40 years.
The development was spread across several townlands.
Cork County Council denied planning permission on one ground.
Green belt
The authority stated that the area was a component of the 'metropolitan Cork green belt', recognised for its significant and valuable landscape.
Approving such construction would go against the objective of maintaining the essence of this green belt, the council stated in its refusal letter.
The decision also took into account the potential visual and landscape consequences associated with the proposed development.
Noisy panels
Three county councillors made submissions against the project. These included Independent Cllr Mary Linehan, Fianna Fáil’s Cllr AnnMarie Ahern and Sinn Féin’s Cllr Danielle Twomey.
Among the reasons for the submissions from some of the councillors were the lack of community engagement with the community and a perceived noise coming from the solar panels.
Scale
The refusal came just before plans for a 214ac solar farm in Gartlandstown, Co Westmeath, were denied by Westmeath County Council.
Neoen Renewables Ireland’s application for the project received 79 submissions, including from the Labour Party’s Cllr D Leonard, who argued that the solar farm was too big for the area.
The project was denied on grounds including its overall scale, visibility and proximity to the Lough Derravaragh SPA.
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