Land earmarked for Quinn power station up for sale

Part of the site at Toomes

Land outside Dundalk which had been earmarked for a new 450MW natural gas fire electricity generating station has gone on the market with Dublin-based estate agents DTZ Sherry FitzGerald for €600,000.

The land at Toomes, 2.5km north west of Louth Village, is just 800 metres away from the 220kV Monavallet substation.

Planning permission was granted in 2008 to construct and operate a new power station on the site.

It had been planned by businessman Sean Quinn, who had been planning to invest €300m in the power station, which was to supply enough electricity for 230,000 homes – equivalent to 8% of national peak demand.

Planning permission was extended for the development in May 2012 but the project never came about due to opposite from local residents and the financial problems of Quinn, who planned on calling the facility ‘Quinn Energy Ballykelly’.

There remains fears in the area that the site might be sold to another company who could push ahead with the power station.

Local man Gerard Pepper told The Argus in December 2011 there were continued fears regarding the site.

“There is still a lot of concern in this area that even if the Quinn Group don’t go ahead with the power plant, the site might be sold to another company.

“It was never the proper site for this type of development, and it still isn’t. There isn’t even the demand for power that there was during the boom years, so we can’t see this going ahead now,” he said.

DTZ Sherry FitzGerald are promoting the lands as being available for a multitude of uses though, saying: “Given the strategic location of the lands and close proximity to the existing power station the lands offer a range of development opportunities subject to planning permission. The development plans highlights the possible uses as one off housing, recreation and tourism, commercial and industrial developments along with public utility infrastructure.”

Meanwhile, 7.72 acres of development land at Roddy’s Sandpit in Lordship is close to being sold by local agents Sherry FitzGerald Carroll.

The agents also have a further 8.96 acres of farm land on the market at Doolargy, Ravensdale, with an asking price of €150,000.

Plans for major power plant in Louth may be still on the cards

The field in Toomes where the power plant is earmarked for

Plans for a major electricity station at Toomes in Louth Village could be still on the cards after Louth County Council renewed Quinn Building Products Limited’s planning permission.

Plans for the 450 megawatt natural gas fired station – which was to be known the Quinn Energy (Ballakelly) Power Plant – were first approved in 2007.

However, they were subsequently shelved due to the problems that Sean Quinn and his family encountered in relation to loans from Anglo Irish Bank.

Plans for the €300m plant at Toomes were met with fierce opposition from locals when they first emerged with many fearing possible knock-on effects on their health and properties.

The station on the 14-acre site was set to be one of the biggest-ever built in Ireland and would have supplied 230,000 homes.

While the extension of the planning permission by no means guarantees the facility will be built, it does give Quinn Energy a further five years in which to progress with the project.