20-acre solar farm approved for Ballymena countryside

Aerial view of proposed solar farm in Ballymena

Planning permission for a solar farm outside Ballymena has been approved by Mid and East Antrim Borough Council’s Planning Committee.

The proposal, submitted by Conway Energy No. 2 Ltd of 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 layout is typical of such applications — rows of solar panels constructed in a west-east direction, as one travels north along the site.”

The plans also include a proposed control room, which 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,” Mr McGuinness added.

He also explained that the application was brought before the Planning Committee because the capacity of the proposed electricity generation station meets or exceeds five megawatts and is therefore “deemed a major application”.

Site location plan

Planning consultant Les Ross told councillors:

“This is a standard solar farm scheme on 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 is 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 enhanced by the landscape — trees and hedges on the site and in the wider area.”

Mr Ross said that a public consultation event was held in February prior to submitting the proposal.

“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 Grove Road, they soon warmed up to the project. It turned out to be a very friendly meeting after all. So when we submitted the application, no-one objected — the public consultation process was a very successful part of the process.”

He added:

“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 megawatt-hours 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 strongest and the demand is greatest.”

Larne Lough DUP Alderman Paul Reid asked for reassurance that shadow flicker and reflection would not affect road users, particularly motorists on the nearby dual carriageway.

Mr McGuinness responded that both DfI Roads and Belfast International Airport had been consulted and offered no objections, confirming they were “satisfied”.

Ald Reid proposed that the committee accept the recommendation to approve the application. The proposal was approved unanimously.