Council to hold special meeting on electrical substation SID application in Rochfortbridge

Westmeath County Council is holding a special meeting next Monday morning to get councillors' views on Lumcloon Energy Limited's Strategic Infrastructure Development (SID) application to An Bord Pleanála for a switchgear electrical substation at the site of its proposed €500m energy facility outside Rochfortbridge.

As part of the SID planning process, Westmeath County Council's chief executive Pat Gallagher is obliged to submit a report on the project from the point of view of the local authority. At the online meeting on Monday, elected representatives will be able to give their views on the application, which can be attached as recommendations to the chief executive's report.

The SID application includes details for the construction of a new substation, comprising a 17m two-storey GIS building, two 23m single circuit high towers and two new mini electrical interface compounds, as well as a new entrance to the substation.

The proposed substation would connect the gas-fired back-up power station and battery storage facility to the national grid.

Earlier this month the council granted planning permission to Lumcloon for a natural gas fuelled power plant and battery storage facility on a 52 acre site in the townlands of Kiltotan and Collinstown despite significant local opposition.

The planning applications for the two sections of the €500m energy project, which developer Lumcloon Energy Limited says would be used to provide back up facilities to the national grid and would only be operational when renewable generation falls off suddenly, were the subject of over 100 objections by local residents.