Pylons for massive Offaly power plant could look 'awful'

BORD na Mona will get the go-ahead for a mammoth new power station in north Offaly, a councillor predicted on Monday.

However, Cllr Liam Quinn said the 710MW gas-fired plant must not be unsightly, must have its cables underground as much as possible, and must contribute significant funding to local roads and the community.

The Rhode-based Fine Gael councillor has drafted his own submission for the project's planning application which is going straight to An Bord Pleanala through the Strategic Infrastructure Development process.

This fast-track assessment means Bord na Mona Powergen bypass Offaly County Council but along with Cllr Quinn's submission, the local authority's planners are lodging a document with An Bord Pleanala.

There is already permission for a power plant on the same site but the latest proposal is larger and its combined cycle gas turbine (CCGT) and open cycle gas turbine (OCGT) will have a combined output of 710MW.

There will be an electricity grid connection and two sub stations and the entire complex will span 10 townlands (Knockdrin, Derrygreenagh, Derryarkin, Derryiron, Ballybeg, Coolcor, Barrysbrook, Clonin, Togher and Coole) on both sides of the R400 road between Rhode and Rochfortbridge.

Stressing how large the application by Bord na Mona is, Cllr Quinn told his council colleagues at a meeting on Monday: “To read the application is like a phonebook.”

“To me this is one of the biggest infrastructure projects ever undertaken in Offaly.”

The councillor said it will probably succeed, mainly because Ireland will require gas-fired stations to back up the country's growing number of renewable energy projects like wind and solar.

He said he made 10 key points in his submission and these include a call for all cabling to be underground; surveys of the R400 and L1010 roads done in advance; an upgrade for the R400 Derrygreenagh hill road; a widening of the L1010 and care taken of its “very historic wall” which was part of the Nesbitt estate and dates from famine relief times; and a footpath from Priory Lawns in Rhode to the GAA field, also to be provided before work starts on the power plant.

He also called for the community benefit fund be index linked; the creation of a near neighbour scheme for households within 1km of the boundary of the site; a greenway along the former narrow gauge railway line; the reinstatement of an historic lake and the reflooding of the bog as a biodiversity area, and finally, an oral hearing hosted by An Bord Pleanala to allow residents to discuss concerns.

He pointed out that the R400 is already home to some of the biggest aggregate quarries and he hopes An Bord Pleanala take note of what the council's own engineers had urged.

He described the cable route as “the kernel” of the problem and stressed that these would be much bigger than existing pylons. Bord na Mona say an overhead line will run for five kilometres and go through Ballybeg bog and then link with an underground cable connection 3.2km long.

The councillor noted that the council planners had asked Bord na Mona for a justification of the cable route they had chosen.

He also pointed out that cabling could be laid underground on cutaway bog.

He warned of the impact of overhead lines on the Croghan Hill landscape: “To me it's going to have an awful visual impact on the area.”

He said wind turbines blend into the landscape better and are clustered together. “But these pylons are to me going to be a terrible eyesore on that part of the hill that comes up between Rhode and Croghan.”

He described Bord na Mona's near neighbour scheme (where nearby households receive financial payments) as a “goodwill scheme” because unlike those associated with wind and solar farms, it is not mandatory.

The proposed scheme will run for just five years whereas “best practice” is 15 years. Furthermore, he said Bord na Mona were suggesting a scheme worth just €90,000, whereby the equivalent for the nearby Yellow River Wind farm, currently under construction, will be worth €595,000 over 15 years even though it will generate only one-seventh of the power.

“This is going to stand out like a sore thumb. The minute you come down off the motorway at Enfield you can see Croghan Hill and all the windmills on the bog at Derrygreenagh. This is what you're going to see now,” he said.

“I think they're going to have to come up with a more sensitive design or certainly make the outside of the building look a little better because it's going to be very substantial and seen for miles around.”

Cllr Quinn's party colleague from Edenderry, Cllr Noel Cribbin, said the project will create 650 construction jobs and up to 100 permanent jobs but the compensation fund proposed by Bord na Mona he said is a “pittance”.

Cllr Eamon Dooley, Fianna Fail, said councillors had previously met former Enterprise Minister Simon Coveney and put proposals to him and he hoped his successor Minister Peter Burke is aware of them.

Cllr Robert McDermott, also Fianna Fail, had queries about cash funding for the R400 and queried why the exact figure for a construction bond to be put up by Bord na Mona had not been published.

Cllr Neil Feighery, Fine Gael, said he had already written a letter to Minister Burke seeking a meeting and believed that as a Westmeath man, he would be aware of the needs of bog areas.

Ed Kelly, senior planner with the council, said the value of the bond would be determined later and also told Cllr McDermott that a figure of €90,000 for general road maintenance was being proposed by Bord na Mona.

Andrew Murray, acting director of service, said it would be six months at least before An Bord Pleanala makes its decision on the planning application.

The councillors were also told by Mr Kelly: “I'm not aware of [Bord na Mona] specifying a commencement date on it.”

However, he said the national lack of dispatchable power is a “huge issue” so he expected that if the board gives the project the go-ahead it will proceed “fairly quick”.

He added: “This is huge. So it's not something that's going to be built all that quickly but we have a short to medium term near crisis in terms of power generation so it's kind of a national priority.”

The whole complex will cover 312 hectares and Rochfortbridge will be the closest town it, 4km to the north east. A 400kv substation will be 2.6km from Croghan and 3.5km from Rhode. The site was previously home to Bord na Mona's Derrygreenagh Works.