NEWS RELEASE
Issued on behalf of BNRG Northern Power
4 February 2014
CAPTION FOR IMAGE:
Green shoots ... David Maguire (Founder and Director of BNRG Renewables), Sean McMullan (BNRG Northern Power Senior Project Manager) and David Chambers (local land owner) pictured at the location of the new large scale solar farm in Downpatrick.
LINK TO DOWNLOADABLE IMAGE: BNRG EAST DOWN
MEDIA CONTACT: David McCavery oF SERIOUS PR (02890 918336 / 07739 631540) or david@seriouspr.com
BNRG GIVEN ‘GREEN LIGHT' FOR NORTHERN IRELAND'S FIRST LARGE SCALE SOLAR FARM
New electricity generating facility will be first of several projects leading to potential £60m investment and more than 100 Jobs within 24 months
Planning permission has been granted for Northern Ireland's first large scale solar farm.
The 5.1 MW facility, being developed by BNRG Northern Power, will be located in East Down on the outskirts of Downpatrick and will deliver an investment of £6m and create around 50 jobs during construction and up to five long-term jobs.
According to Sean McMullan, Senior Project Manager BNRG Northern Power, the new solar farm, also known as a photovoltaic (PV) park, will be capable of generating sufficient electricity to power 1500 homes during its 30 year proposed life-span.
County Down-based Mr McMullan said BNRG was delighted to become the first company to gain planning permission for a solar farm of this scale in Northern Ireland.
The 27-acre solar farm at Tullynaskeagh Road, Downpatrick and will be connected to the nearby NIE sub-station and national grid. It will take just four months to install the 20,300 photovoltaic ground-mounted panels and related equipment. The height of the panels above ground level will approximate to normal ceiling height.
BNRG has also revealed it has a committed pipeline of similar projects in East Down which would bring its initial combined investment to £36m and create 50 ongoing jobs in construction and an additional 30 new posts in administration and maintenance. However, the hope is those figures could almost double over 24 months.
"There is currently only around 5MW solar energy produced in Northern Ireland from mainly small scale roof mounted panels and none from large scale ground mounted solar farms. By comparison England has approaching 2000MW from roof mounted panels and 1000MW from ground mounted and we believe there is considerable potential for large-scale solar generation here, particularly as a genuine alternative to other forms of renewable energy generation such as wind.
"Solar PV benefits from being easy to install, enjoys widespread public support and has a major role in connecting individuals, communities and businesses with future deployment. The granting of approval for this scheme is great news for Northern Ireland."
Mr McMullan said he would like to thank the local politicians all of whom had supported BNRG's planning application.
"All of the political representatives were supportive of our proposals and understood clearly the benefits of large-scale solar power generation."
BNRG's professional team are all from Northern Ireland. Tom Stokes of TSA Planning Consultants who led the planning application commended the Northern Ireland Planning Service for the "efficient and effective way" the process was handled.
"This was a new type of application for the Planning Service but permission was granted without any undue delays which is a credit to the planning officials."
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Notes to editor
Background to BNRG Northern Power
BNRG Northern Power is the Northern Ireland subsidiary ofBNRG Renewableswhich is based in Dublin.BNRG Renewables is an international renewable energy development company which specialises in utility-scale solar PV and has projects constructed and under development in seven countries.
Starting, in 2007, with solar projects in South Eastern Europe BNRG has moved on to develop a large portfolio of projects. Currently, the UK represents BNRG's largest market and the company continues to develop a portfolio of solar projects across the south of England. More recently BNRG has expanded its activity to selected areas in Western Europe, the Caribbean Basin and Africa, with a growing pipeline of projects in these territories.
BNRG has developed 34 PV projects in three different countries do-date with a combined value of £125m. The company's core market is the UK where it has developed and constructed more than 45MW and has a pipeline of projects for 2014-15 valued at £280m.
BNRG has been active in exploring PV development in Northern Ireland for the past 18 months and has identified, assessed and carried out detailed surveys on a series of sites.
BNRG was granted planning permission in early 2013 for what was the largest ground mounted solar farm or PV Park in England up to then, at Sycamore farm, Old Romney, Kent generation capacity 20 MW and covering 120 acres; BNRG are currently developing this PV Park jointly with a another PV developer.
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