Ballymena: solar farm approved as council told 'though we don't live in the sunniest place in the world, panels work well here'
Planning permission for a solar farm outside Ballymena has been approved by Mid and East Antrim Borough Council’s Planning Committee.
The proposal by Conway Energy No 2 Ltd, Magherafelt, is for a five megawatt solar farm and associated development on a 20-acre site in open countryside at Grove Road.
Gary McGuinness, the council’s principal planning officer, told the committee: “The proposed lay-out is typical of such applications that is rows of solar panels constructed in a west-east direction, as one travels north along the site.”
A proposed control room will measure five metres in height and eight metres in length.
“A range of consultations took place with bodies such as environmental health, NIE, DfI Roads etc. All were satisfied subject to conditions. There were no objections,”he added.
Mr McGuinness also indicated the application has come before the planning committee because the capacity of the proposed electricity generation station is or exceeds five megawatts and is “deemed a major application”.
Les Ross, a planning consultant, told the committee: “This is a standard solar farm scheme in an area of about 20 acres. The scheme will be connected to the grid and the connection will allow for maximum generation of five megawatts.
“The site’s on the edge of Ballymena on land that lies between Grove Road and the dual carriageway. Despite the proximity to the town, the development will be pretty much invisible from the roads and local houses in that area because of the undulations in the landscape which naturally hide the site.
“That sense of enclosure is greatly enforced by the landscape, as in trees and hedges on the site and wider landscape.”
Mr Ross went on to say prior to submitting the proposal, a public consultation event was held in February.
“At the beginning of that event, we got a fairly frosty reception but when people realised that the site was well over 200 metres back from the Grove Road, they soon warmed up to the project and it turned out to be a very friendly meeting after all, so whenever we submitted the application, no-one objected, so that public consultation process was a very successful part of the process.
“Although we don’t live in the sunniest place in the world, solar panels work well here in Northern Ireland and the production on this site should be almost 4,000 megawatts per year.
“As you know, the local network is very heavily reliant on wind energy but solar is an important part of the energy mix because it can produce at times when the wind isn’t blowing, so there is a need for more solar development to balance the grid and the best place to develop is close to the big towns where the infrastructure is the strongest and the demand is the greatest.”
Larne Lough DUP Alderman Paul Reid asked for reassurance that shadow flickering and reflection will not affect anyone especially motorists on the dual carriageway.
Mr McGuinness said a number of consultations have been undertaken, adding that it could be a concern of DfI Roads and also Belfast International Airport. He reported that both organisations were consulted and offered no objections and were “satisfied”.
Ald Reid proposed accepting the recommendation to approve the application, which was approved unanimously.
Michelle Weir, Local Democracy Reporter