On Tuesday 26 September, Elgin Energy invited our partners to visit our largest operational solar farm in Northern Ireland. Bann Road Solar Farm is a 46MW project on 180 acres in the County of Antrim. Solar is not the only renewable in operation in the area, with the project flanked by wind farms.
We invited industry partners who had assisted in the development of the site and future industry partners within the Irish market. Attendees were taken on a walk-through of the solar farm and provided with information on the technology used and the project’s history. Our project managers explained the processes involved in the construction and energisation phases, involving partnerships with over five stakeholders, and detailed the daily energy production on site. Elgin Energy believe that education is a key component in the development of the Irish solar industry and beneficial for our stakeholders to view an operational solar farm.
Development of the project began in September 2013 when Elgin Energy initiated contact with the landowners. The planning application was submitted in September 2014 and the grid application was made nine months later. Elgin Energy partnered with BayWA r.e. to facilitate construction which commenced in August 2016. With up to 200 people on site at the peak of construction, total construction took only three months and the site was energised in March 2017. Following the success of this project, Elgin Energy and BayWa have developed 114MW of clean energy together across Northern Ireland and the UK.
Bann Road Solar Farm will remain operational for 25 years and over its lifetime will supply up to 340,000 homes with clean energy.
You can view all of our operational projects here.
Aerial view of Bann Road Solar Farm
