LATEST: Massive €62m solar farm being planned for Kildare / Carlow border

A massive solar farm with an estimated construction value of €60m is being planned on the Carlow / Kildare border. 

A planning application was submitted to Carlow County Council by Lightsource Renewable Energy Ireland Limited for a 10 year planning permission on lands including Straboe and Killerig in Co Carlow. 

The development will consist of a solar photovoltaic (PV) development with associated battery energy storage system compound with a total site area of 132.28 hectares.

The site will feature solar panels mounted on steel support structures, cabling and ducting, inverters, transformers, switchgear substations, an auxiliary transformer, permanent storage containers, monitoring houses, a composting toilet, a backup generator.

Also in the designs are temporary construction compounds, tracks, boundary security fencing and security gates, CCTV landscaping and ancillary works, with a 40year operational period.

There will be a new access created off the R726, a new entrance off Straboe Lane.

The estimated construction value of the project is over €60m, according to Construction Information Services database.