Latest news with #CragWicklowLimited

Irish Independent

Plan for Echelon's Wicklow data centre campus to have solar farm

Officially launched by Taoiseach Micheál Martin in Arklow last May, work on Echelon Data Centres' estimated €3.5 billion DUB20 and DUB30 facilities is well under way, with plans progressing for sites at the former Irish Fertilisers Industries plant at the Avoca River Business Park and Kish Business Park. The new application for the solar array is part of a larger investment in wind-generated renewable energy (almost 1GW), battery energy storage systems, and renewable fuels to replace fossil fuel consumed by the data centre. Submitted by Crag Wicklow Limited, the application seeks permission for a solar farm development comprising photovoltaic (PV) panel arrays – covering an area of c. 15.7 hectares – on ground mounted steel frames, as well as an associated power trunk building and two transformer compounds, underground cabling and ducting and new internal tracks for maintenance. The plans also include the construction of two warehouse buildings, which will both have a gross floor area of c. 3,364 sqm and a total height of c. 14.1m, on a site in the townlands of Moneybig and Bogland. Each warehouse will have a warehousing area of c. 2,419 sqm, a reception area, an office, staff facilities, toilets, and plant and storage areas at ground floor level, with office space, meeting rooms, staff facilities, toilets, and plant and storage facilities at mezzanine level. There will be a service yard with a security hut at the main entrance, HGV unloading areas and four associated loading bay docks on the eastern elevation of each warehouse building, with 68 car parking spaces, four of which will be accessible and 10 EV, along with 40 cycle parking spaces serving staff and visitors. A sprinkler tank, sprinkler pump house, fire hydrant tank, hydrant pump house and ESB substation will be constructed, along with a new statcom compound and a single-storey control and valve building. The proposed development also includes the provision of associated landscaping and planting, berms, boundary treatments, internal road network, pedestrian and cyclist infrastructure, signage zones, site lighting, drainage works, sustainable drainage systems (SuDS) and all ancillary site development works Site access is proposed to be via an extension of an inner relief road through the site of a permitted Crag Wicklow Limited development to the south, which comprises information and communications technology (ICT) facility buildings and a Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) compound with a total area of c. 1.2 hectares, which will accommodate self-contained batteries and integral fire suppression equipment, climate control equipment and associated electrical components. A decision on Crag Wicklow Limited's latest application is due to be made by Wicklow County Council by September 2, with public submissions accepted until August 12.