Community meets to oppose Kildare solar farm
Photo for illustrative purposes only
A COMMUNITY in south Kildare is organizing a meeting to oppose a 138Ha (340ac) solar plant in Ballindrum which applied for planning permission in early March.
The meeting is being held in St Laurence’s GAA Club on Monday evening (30 March) at 8pm, and will be the second such gathering in the area, following the first meeting on 12 March that was attended by approximately 60 concerned locals.
“We don’t want to be lambasted for being anti-environmental, but we do have significant, legitimate concerns,” said Francis Gorman, a cyber security analyst who lives across the road from the proposed site.
“The application was lodged with Kildare County Council under the Renewable Energy Directive 3 (RED3) which is a bit of a legislative sledgehammer to get renewables through,” he said.
“On 5 March neighbours had a newsletter dropped in their letterboxes about this, and the application was lodged the next day on 6 March, and we only have until 9 April to make public submissions, while the council only has until 30 April to make a decision under RED3.
“The problem with a RED3 application is there doesn’t seem to be any legislative mechanism to push back against it.
“There was a similar installation at Garreenleen in Carlow which started at 300 acres, and is now pushing out to 1,000 acres.
“This seems to be the thinking here with ours, with the sub-station to Athy being designated a Strategic Infrastructure Development (SID) which will bypass Kildare County Council and go straight to An Coimisiún Pleanála for any expansion in the future.
“This was specified in the leaflet dropped to the neighbourhood … but there is a lot of smoke and mirrors”.
The local group has discovered that the installation is owned by American investment fund KKR, through its European subsidiary GreenVolt from Portugal, whose off-shoot – Ballindrum Solar Ltd – has made the application to the council.
They have quantified the application in their own newsletter, showing that it will take 8.35km of security fencing around the perimeter to protect the 193,000 solar panels which will be fixed into the landscape with 24,300 steel piles, with 4km of internal roads for access, guarded by 30 CCTV cameras with infra-red lighting , each on 3.5m steel poles.
“ This is not a small rural installation. This is an industrial-scale energy facility which will operate for 40 years,” said Mr Gorman.
“That is four decades of industrial infrastructure on land that is currently rolling, open countryside, an amenity we all get to enjoy as part of rural life.
“The rolling fields of Ballindrum, Mullamast anud surrounding areas are a cherished part of South Kildare's countryside.
“This project may feel far away from some of you, but experience across Ireland and Europe shows us clearly what happens once large-scale solar development takes hold in an area.
“Projects that were initially granted planning permission for 100-200 acres in counties such as Kildare, Meath, and Laois have expanded or been joined by adjacent applications to cover 800 to 1,000 acres or more. Some have progressed to include battery energy storage systems (BESS), bringing additional large-scale infrastructure, noise risks, and fire-safety concerns into rural communities.
This application is for 340 acres, and there is nothing to stop the same developer or neighbouring landowners applying for adjacent land if this is permitted.
The substation and cable route that this project requires will follow in a second, separate planning application which will require more land, more disruption, and more permanent change.
“It may not be at your gate today. But if we do not act now, it could be tomorrow," said Francis.
