North Mayo to get new biogas facility following An Bord Pleanála approval

NORTH Mayo will be getting a new biogas facility after An Bord Pleanála granted approval for a biogas facility and gas pipeline near Killala.

The development, which will encompass eight different townlands, will use locally sourced silage and slurry to generate biogas for export to the national grid. Residual digestate will also be available for use locally as bio-fertiliser.

Planning for the development had initially been approved by Mayo County Council in 2022 before it was appealed to An Bord Pleanála on June 7, 2022.

The county council received a number of submissions relating to increased traffic volumes on the local road network, impact on residential amenity especially from odour, property price devaluation, noise and environmental impact.

Following a recent decision by the board, the development will go ahead subject to 12 conditions.

These conditions stipulate that the development must have due regard to environmental protection, public health, archaeological heritage, visual amenity and not increase risk of flooding in adjoining properties.

Deliveries and transport to and from the site must be confined to between 7am and 8pm Monday to Friday and 8am to 6pm on Saturdays ‘unless otherwise agreed in writing with the planning authority’.

The new plant will be situated in an operational dairy farm and handle up to 42,500 tonnes per annum of grass silage and up to 18,000 tonnes of slurry.

Grass will be harvested from three cuts per year – the last two weeks of May, two-weeks around mid-July and two weeks in late August – with silage supplied by the applicant’s farm as well as 35 other farm holdings in the surrounding area.

Up to six trailers per hour (8am – 9pm) will be required for 14 days for each of these periods every year.

When the operation, the plant is expected to produce 421m3/h of biogas, which is stated to be equivalent to 4.33MWh/h or 37.9GWh/annum

An 8.6 kilometre pipeline located in the public road and verges to connect the facility to the national grid north of Ballina.

The proposed pipeline passes through the townlands of Ballybroony, Coonealmore, Cooonealcauraun, Rathrooen, Culleens, Laghtadawannagh and Farrannoo.

Also forming part of the development are an 832-metre access and circulation track from the L1110, a site office building, weighbridge, perimeter landscaping berm, fencing, lighting, attenuation tank and on-site drainage.