Dozens of people gathered at Galway County Hall to protest over a 140 hectare solar farm, in the Cregmore area of northeast Galway, which is at an advanced stage of production.
Planning permission for the battery energy storage facility was granted in 2021.
More recently, the developer is seeking approval for an extension of the planning permission.
However residents in Cregmore, Grange and Ballymoneen have said they have major safety concerns about the battery storage technology.
One resident, Diarmuid O'Flaherty, claimed that safety, oversight and regulation "has kind of fallen between some cracks in the government agencies".
"I'm not really sure that the Irish organisations have the experts in place to deal with a potential incident with some of these batteries," he said.
Mr O'Flaherty said the batteries contain lithium-ion and that in most cases, "it's a chemistry that can potentially lead to what's called thermal runaway".
Lithium-ion is a high performance rechargeable battery technology that powers everything from smartphones to electric vehicles.
Unlike disposable batteries, they work by moving lithium-ions between electrodes to store and release energy.
"Thermal runaway is kind of a cascade effect where that if one of these modules gets damaged or there's a short or there's a connection or something goes wrong, what happens in thermal runaway is one of the battery cells gets really, really hot, and gets so hot that it loses almost like it loses control," Mr O'Flaherty said.
"And what it does is it heats all the other battery cells around it."
Residents say they will continue to oppose any such development in their area because of the significant environmental risks and lack of proper community consultation.
They are concerned too about the potential safety hazard if a fire was to break out at the facility. They say there no fire safety prevention plan in place.
Speakers at the protest called for a review of the planning extension for the battery storage site, citing safety and community concerns, before a decision is announced next week
Senator Anne Rabbitte said full planning permission was granted during the Covid-19 pandemic when people's voices were restricted.
"If planning extensions are being applied for now, then people should have the opportunity to have their voices heard and to make submissions," she said.
"It is because they cannot make a submission that they feel the need to have a peaceful protest outside the council offices."
