Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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206. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the combined electricity generating capacity of solar energy farms for which planning permission has been granted; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [41506/18]

Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent)
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The question regarding planning permission is a matter for the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government and I have no function in this area. Planning applications for solar farms are generally made to the relevant local planning authority with a right of appeal to An Bord Pleanála.

However, from a grid connection application perspective, the most recent data indicates that at present, there are 682 solar applications at the distributional level (DSO) and 36 solar applications at the transmission level (TSO), at various stages in the grid connection application process. These applications amount to 4,770 Megawatts and 2,110 Megawatts respectively or 6,880 Megawatts in total. These would be at various stages of the planning application process.