IET tours are always exciting and this one was no exception. Held on the 29th April 2019 after being cancelled previously due to Storm Ali, it was time for the tour around Northern Irelands largest solar farm.

The Bann Road Solar Farm, is a Solar PV farm located over two sites, encompassing around 200 acres of land. The section of the tour was hosted at the Bann Road site, which is directly beside the NIE Networks 110kV Rasharkin Cluster Substation. The PV Farm has a generation ability of approximately 36MW, however is constrained to 29.91MW (MEC) due to capacity constraints at the Rasharkin Cluster Substation.

Overall it was an insightful tour allowing me to gain first hand knowledge of the issues of pre-design development, how the site was built, the switchgear and equipment used on site and the maintenance required on such a large solar PV farm.

I would definitely recommend anyone interested especially those who are IET members, to get involved and attend some of these fantastic tours!