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ESB recently marked two significant events in County Longford.
The electricity supplier marked the start of construction of Middleton House Solar Farm, located to the northeast of Lanesborough with its Executive Director, Generation and Trading, Jim Dollard.
On the same day, ESB made the official transfer of land and a building on the former Lough Ree Power site.
The main construction phase of the multi-million-euro solar farm project commenced in September and once complete, the solar farm will generate 57MW of clean electricity that will have enough capacity to power over 15,000 homes.
The project is aligned with ESB's net zero by 2040 strategy and will utilise existing infrastructure from the former peat station at Lough Ree Power to connect to the national grid. An underground cable will connect the solar farm back to the gird connection at Lanesborough via a disused railway track formerly used to transport peat to the power station.
A significant building on the site of the former power station in Lanesborough is being handed over to Longford County Council for the benefit of local organisations for community use and long-term community gain.
The building, known locally as the 'Tomato Shed' was so called as a horticultural business operated on the site previously with water provided from the old Lanesborough Peat Station.
In more recent years, the building was refurbished as a stores for the subsequent Lough Ree Power development. In addition, ESB recently made available a €500k community benefit fund to Longford County Council.
Jim Dollard, ESB Executive Director, Generation and Trading, said: "ESB has a long history in electricity generation in the Midlands. We believe this will continue through projects like Middleton House which will help the region remain a strategic energy hub as part of Ireland’s clean energy future with solar very much helping to power this transition."
The project will be delivered for ESB by partners Wills Bros, Powercomm and Voltalia.
Middleton House Solar Farm forms part of ESB's pipeline of utility-scale solar farms throughout the midlands, south and south-east of the country.
