Ballinrea Solar Farm | Rubicon Heritage

Project Title:

Date:

2017-2018

Location:

Co. Cork, Ireland

Client:

Terra Solar II

Business Sectors:

Energy

Services (Technical Disciplines):

Rubicon Heritage provided consultancy services to the design team for the proposed 34 Ha solar farm project in relation to archaeology, architectural heritage and cultural heritage. This included the preparation of a detailed archaeological impact assessment, commissioning of geophysical survey and liaison with the County archaeologist.

Project Objectives/ Outcomes:

The development site incorporates three Recorded Monuments (RMPs) which are protected sites. These needed to be precisely located and any related risks in relation to archaeology, architectural heritage and cultural heritage identified and characterised.

A comprehensive mitigation strategy was developed for the site. This included the identification and buffering out of the significant protected sites (to avoid any direct impacts) as well as the identification of actions to be carried out at construction phase to minimise the development impact. These included archaeological monitoring of groundworks and the designation of ‘no dig’ zones within the array layout where above-ground supports only would be used.

This contributed to the successful grant of planning permission for the project.

Our Role:

Provision of advice to the design team in relation to archaeology, architectural heritage and cultural heritage issues and constraints
Baseline research
Field survey
Commission of specialist surveys (such as geophysical survey)
Liaison with key stakeholders such as the County archaeologist
Preparation of impact assessment and development of mitigation measures for archaeology, architectural heritage and cultural heritage

Geoscience Ireland Contact:

Colm Moloney (colm.moloney@rubiconheritage.com)