{"id":356135,"date":"2026-03-20T13:01:23","date_gmt":"2026-03-20T13:01:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/356135\/"},"modified":"2026-03-20T13:01:23","modified_gmt":"2026-03-20T13:01:23","slug":"work-set-to-start-on-major-drum-solar-farm-project","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/356135\/","title":{"rendered":"Work set to start on major Drum solar farm project"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

A map of the proposed solar farm area.<\/p>\n

\n Published:
\n Tue 17 Mar 2026, 7:00 AM\n <\/p>\n

\n Last updated:
\n Tue 17 Mar 2026, 8:39 AM\n <\/p>\n

A key milestone in the development of a South Roscommon solar farm will be reached later this month when work commences.<\/p>\n

The Taduff Solar Park is to be developed by EDF power solutions Ireland on land in the Drum area.<\/p>\n

Once completed, the circa 80MW solar farm, located approximately 6km southwest of Athlone, will have the capacity to power around 20,000 homes with secure, domestically produced renewable electricity and make a significant contribution to achieving Ireland\u2019s 2030 climate targets.<\/p>\n

Planning permission was granted in August 2020 for the scheme in townlands of Taduff, Drum and Curraghaleen. In late 2020, EDF power solutions Ireland acquired the project (previously known as TDC Community Solar Park), and it currently consists of a circa 80MW solar farm encompassing the additional townlands of Taduff East, Creagh and Cuilglass, as well as a battery energy storage system.<\/p>\n

An Comisi\u00fan Plean\u00e1la recently granted planning permission for a new 110kV substation at the solar park and a grid connection which will connect the project to the national grid at the Athlone 110kV substation<\/p>\n

The solar farm is expected to be constructed and operational by Spring 2028, at which point a Community Benefit Fund worth some \u20ac180,000 per annum will be established, from which allocations will be made annually for a period of 15 years to support community initiatives and activities.<\/p>\n

Once constructed, the project will also make a significant contribution to the local economy through the payment of annual commercial rates to Roscommon County Council, the developers said, in a statement.<\/p>\n

EDF power solutions Ireland currently operates three solar farms in Wexford and Kilkenny<\/p>\n

Paul Gallagher, Head of Onshore Technologies at EDF power solutions Ireland, said: \u201cWe\u2019re delighted to be starting construction of Taduff Solar Park. This is a major milestone for a project that will help improve Ireland\u2019s energy security and sovereignty, while also reducing carbon emissions and the country\u2019s overreliance on fossil fuels.<\/p>\n

\u201cSolar energy is an increasingly important part of Ireland\u2019s energy mix, and EDF power solutions has led the way in Ireland, connecting some of the country\u2019s first grid-scale solar farms back in 2023. Taduff Solar Park builds on this solar success story, and we\u2019re committed to working closely with local groups and stakeholders to ensure the benefits of the project are shared across the community.\u201d<\/p>\n

EDF power solutions Ireland is working closely with Roscommon County Council, engineering contractors Kirby Group and Belectric, and local stakeholders to safely deliver the project and to minimise disruption during the construction phase.<\/p>\n

Initial details of the construction timeline have been shared with residents, as well as contact details for the project\u2019s Community Liaison Officer, and regular updates will continue to be provided.<\/p>\n

Members of the public who would like to receive these updates as construction of the project progresses are encouraged to sign up for text and email alerts by emailing taduffsolarpark@edf-power.com or see https:\/\/www.edf-powersolutions.ie\/our-sites\/taduff for more information.<\/p>\n

\n Published:
\n Tue 17 Mar 2026, 7:00 AM\n <\/p>\n

\n Last updated:
\n Tue 17 Mar 2026, 8:39 AM\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A map of the proposed solar farm area. Published: Tue 17 Mar 2026, 7:00 AM Last updated: Tue…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":356136,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[246,61,60,82],"class_list":["post-356135","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-environment","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/356135","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=356135"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/356135\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/356136"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=356135"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=356135"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=356135"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}