Longford County Council approve energy plan for former Atlantic Mills site

A renewable energy company has received approval from Longford County Council planners for an energy project for the old Atlantic Mills/Burlington site. ION Renewables Limited were approved subject to 13 conditions for the land tract.

The approval covers the construction of a stationary battery energy storage facility which includes forty 20ft containers and eight medium voltage transformers and all associated site and development works. The official site for the plans is the Fisherstown Innovation Park, Cloondara, Longford.

The applicant, ION Renewables Limited, describe themselves as an energy storage company formed by a number of “top experts in the energy storage industry”. The company's website identifies their priority “to deploy energy storage, providing grid balancing and renewables integration” saying: “We are developing and advising on projects in Ireland and Worldwide through our network.”
The company is headed by directors John Ward and Aidan Donnelly. They point out that Ireland has to generate 70% of its electricity demand from renewable energy sources to meet binding EU emissions reduction targets for 2025.

They say that most developed countries struggle with the integration of renewable generation onto their networks.
The council planners received two submissions on the project. The HSE and Irish Water both corresponded with the local authority on the plans.
The planners report states the development is considered to be “consistent with national regional and local planning policies through specific policies aimed to strengthen the existing transmission service and strongly support improvements to the regional electricity transmission”.
The planner references issues highlighted in the Chief Fire Officers report, however these concerns were dealt with in further information from the developer.

Conditions attached include considerations regarding road design, water and wastewater treatment, noise abatement, emissions and the payment of a development contribution of €13,822.
The Fisherstown site has previously been indicated for energy projects. Last year Hydrogen Utopia International PLC, a company pioneering non-recyclable waste plastics to hydrogen technology, announced an intention to entered into an agreement with Fisherstown Property Holdings Limited in relation to the proposed lease of a 2.5 acre greenfield site in the 78-acre Logeco Logistics & Energy Park at Fisherstown, Clondra, Longford.

Hydrogen Utopia International anticipates that this will lead to its first operational full scale waste plastic to hydrogen facility in Europe.

A statement by Hydrogen Utopia International (HUI) at the time said: “The Longford site has its own electrical grid connection and an electrical substation and the potential for HUI to utilise the existing wastewater treatment facilities on site.
“Fisherstown Property Holdings (FPH) also has planning permission to build a solar farm, which could potentially provide power for an HUI facility.”