High power cables under Upperchurch rejected - An Bord Pleanála

Windfarm operator Ecopower Developments Ltd has been refused planning permission for a major project to install high power cables underground from a power station near Newport to an already approved windfarm in Upperchurch.

Ecopower lodged the plans with An Bord Pleanála on June 28, 2018. On December 17 last, the board delivered its decision to refuse approval, and the decision was published on December 21. The plans had to be submitted to the board as it issued a direction in January 2018 stating that the proposal constituted “strategic infrastructure”.

The proposals involved the construction of a 110kV electrical substation and 27.5 kilometres of 110kV underground electrical cabling from the proposed substation in Mountphilips, near Newport, and townland of Knockcurraghbola, to an already consented, but not constructed, Upperchurch windfarm and 110kV electrical substation.

The approved Upperchurch windfarm will consist of 22 turbines with an overall height of 126.6 metres, two meteorological masts with a height of up to 80 metres, and other works.

The purpose of the proposed cables was to connect the Upperchurch Windfarm substation to the national grid via the proposed new substation at Mountphilips and thereby export electricity from Upperchurch when constructed and operational.

The project entailed temporary and permanent watercourse crossings, temporary and permanent drainage systems, new roads, and masts.

Submissions and observations were made by Tipperary Co Council, the Department of Culture Heritage and the Gaeltacht, Inland Fisheries Ireland, Emer Ó Siochrú, Toal Ó Muire, James and Tanya Embleton, Ned and Carmel Buckley, Gerard Ryan, and Paul and Edel Grace.

Full story in this week's Tipperary Star