Ballinrea Solar Farm is Ørsted’s first solar farm in Ireland

Ørsted acquired Ballinrea Solar Farm from renewable developer Terra Solar in 2022. Located between Carrigaline and Cork City, the 65MWp solar farm is expected to power up to 16,000 homes once it is operational. Construction is expected to start in 2024 with connection to the electricity grid being completed in 2025.

It comprises two sites, one in the townland of Ballinrea and the other in the townland of Ballinvuskig. Planning permission for the solar farms was received in 2019. A grid connection offer from EirGrid was accepted in 2022 to connect the two solar farms to the electricity grid via a single 110kV underground cable connection to ESB’s Raffeen Substation.

We are in the process of preparing planning applications to be submitted to Cork City and County Councils for minor amendments to the permitted solar farm layouts. These will allow for the now obsolete equipment included in the original applications to be updated. As part of these applications, we will be requesting permission to install an underground electricity cable (33kV) to interconnect the two sites. In addition, we are preparing a planning application for the 110kV grid connection to Raffeen Substation which will encompass the onsite 110kV substation, the 110kV underground cable to Raffeen and additional electrical infrastructure within Raffeen Substation. We are currently determining the most suitable route for the 110kV cable between the solar farms and Raffeen Substation

We will be engaging with local residents in the coming months and will share more information on the planning applications during this process. If you have any questions in the meantime, please call our Community Lead, Aidan Stakelum, on 086 103 7437.

With rising energy costs becoming a major issue for people in Ireland throughout their day-to-day lives, there are clear benefits to be seen in the development of an indigenous renewable energy resource, like here in Ballinrea. This helps to secure Ireland’s independent future, by reducing our reliance on volatile and costly energy imports. Ørsted is further committed to contributing to this development and helping Ireland to position itself as a modern, low-carbon country powered by a secure, local energy generation network.