A North Clare company on the brink of closure has been granted permission for a new development at its site.
Daktronics has received approval to build a solar panel farm at its Ennistymon location despite entering a redundancy process last month.
On August 21st, Just two weeks before entering into official redundancy consultations with its 100 staff, Daktronics submitted plans for a 400kw Solar farm on lands adjoining its North Clare manufacturing facility.
In documents submitted to the council, Daktronics claimed the Solar farm would save €80,000 per year in electricity costs and that the development itself would be paid back within four years.
The development was proposed for a 740 acre site and would involved an array of ground mounted frames.
The project is unlikely to proceed, however, with the closure of the business seemingly imminent.
In early September, Daktronics HQ located in South Dakota confirmed it had entered a redundancy consultation process with its Ennistymon staff as it was considering a proposal to exit from its International Transportation business, which serves rail, bus, and roadway customers outside the United States and Canada.
Founded by Kevin Neville in 1979 as Data Display, before being acquired by Daktronics in 2014, the facility has produced digital signage used on the New York Subway, Paris Metro, London Underground and Dublin Dart.
The Industrial Development Agency has sought a meeting with the company’s CEO to see if its Ennistymon operation can be secured.
