Waterford landowners object to proposed electricity lines

Landowners in west Waterford are objecting to the construction of an overhead electricity line to link a proposed power station in Dungarvan to the national grid.

A decision on the £60 million power station, to be built by a private consortium on a site adjacent to Dungarvan town centre, is due to be made by an An Bord Pleanala today. The developer, Dungarvan Energy Ltd, was given the go-ahead by the local urban district council for its plan to build the gas-fired generating station on the site formerly owned by Glanbia.

A local resident, Ms Colette O'Connell, appealed the decision to An Bord Pleanala, claiming its location, close to a residential area, was unsuitable. The overhead power line is the subject of a separate planning application by the ESB which is before Waterford County Council and Dungarvan UDC.

Seven landowners and a property developer have objected to the proposal, which would result in 20-metre pylons being erected on a two-mile stretch of countryside between Dungarvan and the ESB sub-station at Killadangan.

The two local authorities wrote to the company to ask if it had considered alternative routes, or the option of putting the 110 kv power line underground. The ESB replied that the underground option was not feasible. The councils are now considering whether to seek further information or proceed with a decision, which would be made early next month.

Dungarvan Energy Ltd is a partnership between Rolls Royce Power Ventures Ltd, which has its head office in London, and a number of Irish businessmen. Its proposal involves replacing a former combined heat and power plant on the Glanbia site with a new, gas-fired generating station.

The project director, Mr Alastair Jessop, said yesterday that a draft connection agreement had been signed with Bord Gais for the construction of a natural gas pipeline to the town.

It was hoped to have the station fully operating by mid-2002, he added. The plant, producing around 100 mw of electricity, would operate 24 hours a day throughout the year. .

In her appeal, Ms O'Connell, of Davis Street, Dungarvan, said the proposed location of the plant was less than 100 metres from houses. She also claimed the buildings proposed would dominate the skyline, and local properties would be devalued.

In a response, the Dungarvan town clerk, Mr Brian White, said similar plants in the UK and Finland had been examined by the UDC and it was satisfied there would be no loss of environmental quality of life.