Cllrs ask to be kept informed about solar farm 

Councillors have asked that they be kept informed about a planned solar farm in South Roscommon.

At the March meeting of the Athlone Municipal District, councillors were given a presentation on the Taduff Solar Park.

Cllr John Keogh said that renewable energy projects were going to be part of the country’s future. “That’s the simple reality, when they are in the right location,” he said. He added wind energy projects should be off shore. He also asked that councillors be kept informed about the development, saying he had no record of the company engaging with them in relation to the solar farm.

“There are other developers that have corresponded with us,” he said, and he asked was there some reason that did not happen.

He added that the only communication he received about the project was from 2019.

The developers said they took Cllr Keogh’s comments on board and would follow up, highlighting that the project had changed owners.

Welcoming the fact they attended the Athlone Agricultural Show, Cllr Valerie Duffy asked whether the developers “knocked on people’s doors” in the locality.

She also asked had a public meeting been held about the development.

During the presentation, Cllr Tony Ward was informed that in terms of the operational maintenance of solar farm sites, at the company’s site in Wexford, farmers were encouraged to allow sheep to graze under the panels.

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