Plans for largest solar farm in UK here in NI

donglemouse

Donglemouse regular contributor from days gone by to the match betting board here

Folks plans are afoot to build the largest solar farm in the UK here in the sleepy Northern Irish greenfield countryside of Country Antrim

Whilst renewable energy isn’t a bad thing at all with panels on roofs, brownfield land and blended into the environment, destroying 250 acres of countryside for a solar farm isn’t something I can support

Sadly our planning laws are weaker than the rest of the UK and thus we are a target for non-local speculators

More info here https://www.kellsvocal.com and if you support please sign the petition

https://www.change.org/p/department-of-enviroment-ni-refuse-planning-permission-for-elgin-energy-s-application-to-build-a-250-acre-solar-power-plant-in-rural-kells-ec08bd04-fd1e-48ba-a98a-d569cd766262?just_created=true

Mods - if I shouldn't have posted in this particular forum please accept my apologies and punish me accordingly however it's an issue of importance to the people of ni in my humble opinion

Old_Git

i do understand your concern ,however what is the land used for at the moment . Is this just a case of nimby .Not in my backyard

saverbuyer

Typical NIMBY. If anything I think our planning system isn't open enough. We obviously have different definitions of destroy and I can't for the life of me see the negative impact on local families. Kells is not "highly populated".

Is there a support petition I can get the friends and family to sign?

Mistral001

I believe the land will still be used of agriculture as the animals will graze among the solar panel structures.


The farm will produce an amazing amount of energy. I think enough for about 15,000 homes etc. very few people who live in the countryside and make a living there will want to see the farmer the local investors and the people employed on the solar farm do badly out of this venture. As for the investors from outside the local area, we actually need more of them rather than fewer of them as the OP perhaps suggests.

motorguy

donglemouse wrote: »

Donglemouse regular contributor from days gone by to the match betting board here

Folks plans are afoot to build the largest solar farm in the UK here in the sleepy Northern Irish greenfield countryside of Country Antrim

Whilst renewable energy isn’t a bad thing at all with panels on roofs, brownfield land and blended into the environment, destroying 250 acres of countryside for a solar farm isn’t something I can support

Sadly our planning laws are weaker than the rest of the UK and thus we are a target for non-local speculators

More info here https://www.kellsvocal.com and if you support please sign the petition

https://www.change.org/p/department-of-enviroment-ni-refuse-planning-permission-for-elgin-energy-s-application-to-build-a-250-acre-solar-power-plant-in-rural-kells-ec08bd04-fd1e-48ba-a98a-d569cd766262?just_created=true

Mods - if I shouldn't have posted in this particular forum please accept my apologies and punish me accordingly however it's an issue of importance to the people of ni in my humble opinion

I think its a great idea - external investment, local jobs, and reducing our dependency on fossil fuels AND the land can still be used for livestock.

Does everyone in this wee land of ours just say NO to everything?

donglemouse

ok chaps not NIMBY - as I am not directly impacted by it although others will be and not adverse to renewables

a fair amount of details is on kellsvocal's website as well as elsewhere but a couple of points

the land is currently silage and grazing - it's character would be transformed in my view as the proposals have a 2 metre high wire fence going up round the 250 acres which will be clearly visible from the road as will the panels

sheeps grazing in a field of panels surrounded by a 2m high wire fence isn't again in my view the same as it is now

if such a development was screened using exiting mature hedges or in a hollow or in some way blended in fair enough, but it won't be the case based on the plans

a number of residents will be impacted as they are in close proximity and thus will have a 2 metre high security fence at the bottom of the garden and a view of 3 metre high panels everywhere thereafter

kells is not highly populated agreed - but why not have this stuck on brownfield land rather than in the green country? or on the roofs our houses?

as for investment apart from a couple of months of construction and then a job for a security bloke thereafter to look after the site i don't see it as creating much in the way of benefits to the local community

anyway happy to being engaging on the subject and i welcome all views

Old_Git

A 2 metre high fence is not bad .That's no higher than the average back garden fence and no neighbours looking in at you .Do you know of any brown field site that would be big enough for this .I have one objection to putting the panels on roofs ,the roofs where not designed to take the extra weight long term .

Who owns the land at the moment .Do you think the sheep will notice the 2 metre high fence or the panels ,
I think this is called progress and much better than sellafield .

qwert_yuiop

Let's just continue to treat the atmosphere as a sewer.

If you want to talk about planning laws, let's talk about ribbon development and ugly bungalows at every hole in the hedge. How does that happen?

donglemouse

re. the 2 metre fence that's amongst the reasons personally why i'd view it as akin to some sort of industrial or residential development (although it's clearly subjective to the individual, others may and will disagree)

resi and industrial applications are governed by relatively strict planning regulations for rural areas (pps 21 i think), i'm concerned our ni planning laws aren't that comprehensive or controlled re. solar farms at this point, a couple of examples

i) NI has a goal for c40% our energy to ultimately come from renewables i.e. XXX million Mega Watts, when asked earlier this year what amount of MW capacity of renewables had planning service approved and what amount of MW capacity applications were in the pipeline i.e. submitted awaiting approval

planning service admitted they didn't know and couldn't give any answer - how on earth are we going on approving applications when we have no idea if we even need them still or not?

ii) in the rest of GB a developer has to put up a bond upfront to cover the cost of taking down the panels in 25 years or so when the farm reaches the end of it's life, here in ni we don't bother asking for this, we just take the chance the developer will still be around in 25 yer and have the funds available to clear the site

when asked what happens if the developer is for whatever reason unable to clear the site planning service admitted they didn't know, so in this case i presume that means the tax payer is at risk for the bill to clear a 250 acre site

to pick up a couple of your other points oldgit

re. the 250 acre brownfield site to my knowledge the province doesn't have one, but that in my mind shouldn't rule out potentially using the ones we do have ahead of green land and/or being more controlled about the use of green land

by way of example a c30 solar farm was approved in Crumlin last year, it was screened by existing mature hedges and not on raised up land so basically from the outside you wouldn't even know it existed

as for the land in Kells my understanding it is owned by one person who inherited it recently, they don't live on the land concerned (nor does anyone else) or in the Kells area

hopefully the comments give some insight into why large scale solar farms and potentially ill controlled planning gives me concern for the province as a whole be it kells, rasharkin, larne or wherever else

i'm not against progress but i'd like better regulation over it

qwert_yuiop

So it's an eyesore? So are ballylumford and kilroot, and they belch fumes as well.

My main concern would be its actual value. Wind turbines only work when it's windy, and need power station back up. They're only a viable proposition due to subsidies, which means they're not really viable at all. Solar plainly only works during the day. Is it just another subsidy extraction scheme?

donglemouse

my understanding is basically yes it's another subsidy extraction scheme as you put it

and the ni is more generous on subsidy than the rest of the uk at this point, so coupled with our less regulated planning (versus the rest of uk) and that's why the province is now a magnet for solar farm developers

hence my concern for the province given we haven't a clue how much capacity we have approved or how much is in the application pipeline nor are we asking for de-commissioning bonds