'The last thing we want is a big hole in the bog and Lanesboro wiped out', warns south Longford councillor

Cllr Mark Casey (Ind) raise the issue “as a matter of safety”, even though the subject was not listed on the agenda of the meeting.

Cllr Casey asked: “It has been brought to my attention that the battery storage could be at risk of exploding. I am just wondering if Longford County council have just taken ESB's word on this or if they have done their research on this.”

Older generation lithium-ion batteries can be prone to overheating, swelling, electrolyte leakage venting, fires, smoke, and explosions in worst-case scenarios. Fires linked to lithium-ion batteries have occurred at sites in the US, UK, South Korea and Australia.

Cllr Case added that the local authority should ensure that the lithium involved in the batteries are not mined using child labour: “The last thing we want is a big hole in the bog and Lanesborough wiped out.”

Longford County Council granted planning permission for the battery energy storage facility in Longford on the site of the former Lough Ree power plant. Since the approval a Wexford based company have applied for permission to progress an underground electrical cable to connect to solar farms.

Local authority planners approved the battery energy storage facility on the site of the former Lough Ree power plant (LRP) in Lanesborough. The planners granted permission subject to 15 conditions.

The development consists of the demolition of the existing LRP station and the development and operation of “electricity grid services”. These services are a battery energy storage system (BESS) and a Synchronous Condenser (Sync Con).

Director Of Services, John Brannigan, addressed some of Cllr Casey's concerns: “In general it was assessed as any other planning application by the relevant technically competent people. The planning decision was issued with relevant conditions.”

Cllr Casey asked about the level of technical expertise to make the assessment, eliciting the reply from Mr Braningan: “I am not going to talk in detail on any specific applicator that could be subject to an appeal, but in general we always get the relevant expertise for any application we are adjudicating on.”

In the wake of the planning decision the council's planning office received an application from Harmony Solar Longford Ltd.

That application is for an underground electrical cable and transformer compound to connect permitted solar farms within the townlands of Middleton, Ballycore, Treanboy, Newtown, Ballynakill, Bunacloy to the national grid via the proposed transformer compound at Lough Ree Power Station.