Wexford Solar Farm Planning Rejection For Large Solar Farm Upheld On Appeal
An Bord Pleanála (an independent, quasi-judicial body that decides on appeals from planning decisions made by local authorities in Ireland) has upheld a decision by Wexford County Council to refuse an application for the development of one of Ireland's largest solar farms spanning more than 200 acres.
The project, put forward by Dublin-based developer Highfield Solar Limited, if approved would have spread across seven townlands in and around Ballybrennan, Co Wexford.
Together with Co Cork, Wexford has received the highest number of applications for solar farms to date, with an explosion of applications in 2016.
Highfield Solar has lodged more than 20 applications since the start of 2016, with an estimated grid capacity of more than 250 MW.
A joint venture between Highfield Energy Solutions and the UK-based Aura Power, has made the three largest planning applications in Ireland to date, in terms of both land use and electricity generation capacity.
The company recently had two other Wexford County Council decisions overturned by An Bord Pleanála (ABP) for a 31-acre solar farm near Enniscorthy and a near 50-acre site in Clonroche.
In this case, the planning authority sided with the council's original decision that the development would be "contrary to the proper planning and sustainable development of the area".
