Permission refused for Letterkenny electricity storage facility

Donegal County Council has refused a planning permission application for the construction of an electricity storage facility on a six-hectare site near Letterkenny.

The applicant, Peter Henry, on behalf of Renewable Energy Systems Ltd (RES Ltd) had applied for proposals to be situated in the townland of Listillion, off the N13, south of Letterkenny, however Donegal County Council had refused the application due to road safety and future road project reasons.

RES Ltd describe themselves as the “world’s largest independent renewable energy company, working across 24 countries and active in wind, solar, energy storage, biomass, hydro, green hydrogen, transmission and distribution,” and an “industry innovator for over 40 years.”

Included in the project, which was planned to have a 40-year operational term, were 96 battery storage enclosures, attenuation ponds totalling 1,204 cubic metres, a capacitor bank, an onsite electrical compound, and upgraded access from the N13, amongst other items.

Within the submitted application, it was concluded: “The proposed development’s strategic location, adjacent to the existing Letterkenny substation, will facilitate a straightforward connection to the grid and will avoid the need for any significant infrastructure works or the potential for associated impacts.

“The planning application pack contains a suite of environmental assessments which demonstrate the Proposed Development will not result in any significant negative effects. This is in part due to the sensitive design approach that works with retaining field boundaries and landscape features.”

Plans were challenged by written submissions against the project, of which there were 16, including by the OBO Listillion Community Group.

An Executive Planner, in the Planning Report, recommended that the application be refused for two reasons.

Firstly, it was declared that: “The proposed development would be accessed by way of an upgraded existing agricultural access onto the N13 National Primary Road at a location where the maximum speed limit applies.

“The proposal would result in the intensification of an existing direct access onto a national road and would generate additional traffic, including construction traffic and HGV movements, on an unimproved section of the national road network,” which would be at odds with the Spatial Planning and National Roads Guidelines for Planning Authorities, 2012.

It continued: “The Planning Authority is not satisfied that the proposed access arrangements would be acceptable in terms of traffic safety or would safeguard the carrying capacity and safety of the N13.

“The proposed development would therefore endanger public safety by reason of traffic hazard and obstruction of road users.”

Secondly, it was stated that: “The proposed development is located within and directly affects lands associated with the TEN-T Priority Route Improvement Project, Donegal.

“Donegal National Roads Office has advised that the existing N13 access relied upon by the proposed development is to be permanently closed as part of the TEN-T Priority Route Improvement Project and that the application has not adequately addressed future access arrangements following delivery of that project.

“The application also fails to demonstrate that the proposed development would not conflict with or prejudice the construction, operation, land acquisition requirements or implementation of the TEN-T Priority Route Improvement Project.”

Donegal County Council had recently published plans of the TEN-T Priority Route Improvement Project, which is set to target three priority sections of Donegal’s national road network, providing “long-awaited traffic relief” to Letterkenny, Ballybofey/Stranorlar, and Lifford.

The listed applicants were advised by Donegal County Council that, should they wish to challenge the decision, an appeal may be made to An Coimisiún Pleanála, within four weeks beginning on the date that the Planning Authority made its decision.