High Court judge makes decision on massive Offaly solar farm plan

THE High Court has refused to refer an Offaly solar farm plan – said to be the size of over 80 rugby pitches – to the European Union Court of Justice.

The solar farm project is being lined up for a site near Portarlington by Elgin Energy Services Limited but it encountered objections from a local group, Concerned Residents of Treascon and Clondoolusk.

It is proposed for nearly 87 hectares of land on a site 155 metres north of the Barrow and Nore rivers special area of conservation.

Pre-application consultations with Offaly County Council began in September 2017 but permission was not sought until March, 2021 and the council gave the project the go-ahead in May of that year.

The developers say the solar farm will be capable of generating up to 80 megawatts of electricity.

The residents group appealed the council's grant to An Bord Pleanala but the appeal failed and they then sought a judicial review in the High Court quashing the board's decision.

The Concerned Residents of Treascon and Clondoolusk also sought a declaration that laws in relation to an environmental impact assessment had not been followed.

Among the residents' claims were that the location of 40 inverters (the devices that convert electricity from the solar panels) and piled foundations for the panels were not shown on plan drawings.

High Court judge, Mr Justice Humphreys, found on December 16 last year that the inverters were indicated on the plan and further, that there was “a great deal of information” indicating the locations of the solar panel arrays.

The residents claimed that An Bord Pleanala had not made a screening determination for an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA). A full EIA is required if the Department of Agriculture decides work is likely to have a significant effect on the environment.

A key point for the residents was that the project will involve the removal of 910 metres of hedgerows.

To the north of the site, 770 metres will be removed and to the east and west, 140 metres will be taken out but then relocated three metres back.

The residents contended that such work would be “rural land restructuring” that would require an EIA.

Mr Justice Humphreys agreed with the residents that removing or relocating nearly one kilometre of hedgerows is rural land restructuring because doing so for a solar farm from agricultural land clearly changes the land use concerned.

However, he did not rule in favour of the residents' group because there is no law requiring An Bord Pleanala to carry out an EIA.

But he added: “The [group] is not entirely without a remedy because it can always return to court in the event that the developer fails to make an application to the Minister for Agriculture for consent or fails to acknowledge an obligation to do so prior to removing any hedgerows.”

The judge also found against the group on other points which had been raised, including water quality assessment and European Union habitats and birds directives.

“Essentially, the conclusion of the appropriate assessment was that there would not be any impact on water quality. Thus, there would not be an adverse impact,” said Mr Justice Humphreys.

He also noted that the Bord Pleanala inspector had concluded that “following the implementation of mitigation”, the solar farm would not adversely affect the integrity of the river Barrow and river Nore special area of conservation.

A further case then came before the High Court where the residents sought permission to appeal the December court decision, sought a referral to the European Union Court of Justice, and an order for costs.

Mr Justice Humphreys found last month there was no basis for leave to appeal and also refused the application for a referral to Europe because the solar farm company had decided to make an EIA screening application to the Minister for Agriculture in relation to hedgerow removal.

In submissions to Offaly County Council two years ago, the residents' group said the proposed solar farm would be “clearly enormous”, the size of 87 international size rugby pitches or 10 times bigger than Dublin's St Stephen's Green.

They said it would be the second largest such proposal ever in Offaly and one of Ireland's biggest.

Energy company Elgin had also got the green light for two other solar farms nearby, a 17.7ha one in Tullamore and a 12.63ha one in Portarlington.

The residents pointed out that a proposal for an even bigger solar farm, stretching across 89 hectares in Wexford, had been turnded down, with lack of guidance at national level cited as a reason for refusal.

The Offaly group also had concerns about the impact of glint and glare from the solar farm on low flying aircraft and said the Department of Defence objected to a wind farm at Ummeras bog because of such concerns.

The solar farm proposed by Elgin Energy Services Limited is on a site 3.3km east of Portarlington and 3.6km west of Monasterevin. Lea Castle, Portarlington, whose original structure dates from the 12th century, is 1.4km away.