2360216

The Owner of the facility at Cregg Village is experiencing very high electrical energy usage on site. The facility has now become fully occupied and active in its capacity as temporary accommodation for refugees fleeing the ongoing conflict in Ukraine. To alleviate the high energy usage, costs and associated carbon footprint, the owner of the facility is looking to obtain planning permission to supply and install a new 600kWp Ground mounted, The proposed ground mounted PV system shall be installed over two (2) number Phases. Phase 1 shall consist of 300kW of ground mounted solar PV being installed to meet the facilities current on site electrical demand. It is envisaged that Phase 2 will progress at a later date in tandem with the facilities planned electrification of their heating system over the coming Five (5) years. The 300kW installed under Phase 2 will be designed to meet the electrical input power required to satisfy the thermal loadings of future heat pump systems. The primary purpose for both phase 1 & phase 2 PV arrays will be for on site self consumption to meet the existing on site electricity usage, in instances where there is over production in summer months, the PV array will export any excess energy to the national grid under the Clean Export Guarantee (CEG). New in ground ducting shall be installed on site to reticulate DC and AC cabling back to the facilities Main Distribution Board at the boiler plant room. The proposed location for the solar PV array is not currently in use and consists of overgrown scrub, which will be cleared as required to accommodate each phase. The array will be south facing and located on unused lands to the south of the facility. To the East of the proposed array there is also a Zone of Archaeological Notification to recorded monument RMP SL008-128----Ringfort Rath located on the lands of the neighboring school "St. Cecilia's N.S.". As per our archeological survey , the new solar PV array will have zero impact on this site and natural screening of the abundant vegetation and mature trees around the monument will screen it from the proposed development. A Landscape and Visual Impact Assessment (LVIA) study was carried out on the proposal. Based on the landscape and visual impact judgements provided throughout the LVIA, the proposed Ground Mounted Solar Array is not considered to give rise to any significant residual impacts. Instead, landscape impacts are not considered to exceed ‘Moderate-slight’ s