Major solar park planned for Drum area
Plans for a significant solar farm in the Drum area have been lodged with Roscommon County Council.
The proposed development, to be known as the Rockfield Solar Farm, is earmarked for a 16.3 hectare site at Ardgawna, Drum, some four kilometres west of Athlone and between the M6 motorway to the north and the Dublin/Galway railway line to the south.
The applicant, Eirgen Power Limited, is seeking a 10-year planning permission for construction, and a 40-year planning permission for operation and subsequent decommissioning.
The proposed development will generate approximately 10MW of electricity which the application says would be sufficient clean electricity to power approximately 3,500 average Irish homes annually and will displace approximately 5,200 tonnes of CO2 emissions per year.
The development will consist of the installation of solar photovoltaic (PV) panels on ground-mounted frames in rows with a maximum height of 3.2m; an ESB electricity substation compound and the use of already approved farm access tracks and provision of additional new internal access tracks.
The solar farm will consist of ground-mounted PV panels covering approximately 14.5 hectares of the site. The panels will be mounted on aluminium frameworks attached to galvanised steel posts driven approximately 1.5m into the ground using hydraulic percussion equipment. No concrete foundations are proposed unless archaeological mitigation requires otherwise.
Documents included in the planning application indicate that the 40-year period “is essential for the commercial viability and financing of the Proposed Development and is consistent with the standard operational period for utility scale solar PV farms in Ireland”.
The applicant said it had conduction one-on-one engagement with the residents most likely to be affected by the proposed development.
It said: "Fifty dwellings within a 1 km radius of the site were considered in the community impact assessment and, on the basis of the findings of the Glint and Glare Assessment and the Landscape and Visual Impact Assessment, shortlisted to thirteen dwellings.
"The Applicant called to each of these dwellings during June and July 2026 to discuss the proposal in person, sharing a briefing letter, project overview, site map and viewpoint photographs, and where a resident was not present left project information and contact details at the dwelling."
A separate planning application is to be made in the future for a grid connection cable
The application was submitted to the council on August 19. The planning application can be viewed at www.roscommoncoco.ie and submissions or observations can be made within five weeks of the application.
Another separate Solar PV development is under construction nearby.
The circa 80MW project is planned for the Drum area. It encompasses parts of the Taduff, Drum, Curraghaleen, Taduff East, Creagh and Cuilgass towlands, on the opposite side of the motorway, and further west. It is being developed by EDF power solutions and is expected to be operational in Spring 2028.