Shannon Airport has been granted planning permission for a major upgrade of its facilities.
The new development approved by Clare County Council will soon see a solar farm make a permanent landing at the site.
The project will see the construction of a 1.2MW (Mega-Watt) Solar Panel farm within the airfield at Rineanna South over an area spanning 2.25 hectares.
The works will also involve the installation of linear arrays of solar photovoltaic panels on ground mounted frames with associated cabling, a modular substation, inverters and a new internal site access road.
Photo-Voltaic panels essentially generate an electric current after absorbing light from the sun and as part of the planning permission, Clare County Council has ordered Shannon Airport DAC to comply with all recommendations of it’s glint and glare assessment at the airfield.
The recommendations include specific requirements for the angle, orientation, and coating of the solar panels to ensure no aviation receptors or aircraft are impacted by glint and glare from the installation.
The approval for the project comes just two weeks after Shannon Airport was included in a €4.2m government funding programme for sustainability initiatives at regional state airports.
