There is much recrimination about the latest predictions showing Ireland is making at best modest progress in cutting its carbon emissions. But one technology is delivering its targeted contribution to halving emissions by 2030: solar energy.
Its rise within a few years is striking. “The run rate is 1 gigawatt (GW) a year in connected solar,” says Ronan Power of industry body Solar Ireland. Solar delivered one-third of Ireland’s energy needs during the May heatwave, providing at peak almost the same amount of power as imported gas.
Two gigawatts were in the system last year – 1GW powers about 500,000 homes. Critically, 8GW is set to be installed by the decade’s end, of which 2GW will be rooftop, provided there is “reasonable push through on planning and connecting to the grid”, he adds.
There is strong growth of utility-scale solar concentrated in the midlands, east and south, driven by flat terrain, available grid capacity and high solar irradiation. Some exceed 400 hectares (1,000 acres) in size.
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There are, however, obstacles to roll-out, notably concerns are about delivery, inconsistent application of policy and capacity issues (the responsibility of EirGrid and ESB Networks). The grid is not keeping pace with generated power. Curtailment is all too evident – wasting €1.4 million daily on average when the system cannot cater for renewables. Solar Ireland has called for system optimisation to address this, using already available technology.
Accelerating solar development, however, has prompted opposition in some rural areas with recent protests in east Cork, Galway and Wexford. There are concerns over loss of prime agricultural land, “industrialisation” of rural landscapes, nature damage and safety fears linked to associated battery storage.
Power Capital Renewable Energy (PCRE) plan to build a large solar farm in Abbeyknockmoy-Monivea, Co Galway. It has 11 solar farms built and four in construction in Ireland – 600 megawatts (MW) is operational; 400MW in the pipeline.
PCRE chief executive and co-founder Justin Brown says grid connection is a particular frustration: The timing of getting connected where projects are ready to become operational. They’re sitting there not producing anything.
He accepts there are resourcing issues and the grid provider is not entirely at fault, but it’s the only scenario he knows where “a contract is more of a promise … with no penalties”.
Once operational, he says solar energy is often curtailed due to supply system constraints, inability to cater for high volumes of renewables, or unfairly having to dispatch down because of data centres, another demand site user.
On opposition in Co Galway, he declined to comment. They have seen opposition to “one or two” projects from “a noisy minority”. His company has to comply with a raft of statutory regulations, including the EU renewable energy directive (RED III). “There is a process for everybody to follow,” Brown adds, while objectors can pursue a judicial review.
Abbeyknockmoy & Monivea Against Solar (Amass) is demanding more transparency on grid connection planning and better consultation. What began as a local response to PCRE’s proposal has broadened into a campaign “focused on land use, planning transparency, consultation standards, rural governance, and wider implications of large-scale renewable infrastructure in Ireland,” says chairman Brendan Cronin.
“Many members and supporters strongly back renewable energy, rooftop solar, community-led projects and responsible climate action,” he adds. “Our concern is with how industrial-scale renewable developments are being pursued and implemented in rural Ireland.”
Amass highlights a lack of a dedicated regulatory framework for utility-scale battery energy storage systems (BESS), particularly on emergency planning, fire response and environmental risk. These systems capture electricity from renewable sources or the grid, storing it in rechargeable batteries for later use.
“Many residents feel the approach taken [by PCRE] did not build trust, with limited early engagement, changing project details and a process that often felt more procedural than genuinely participatory,” Cronin says.
Rural communities are increasingly being asked to host large-scale energy infrastructure, he says, while planning systems, consultation processes, land-use policy and regulatory oversight have struggled to keep pace with the scale and speed of development.
“Questions around food production, agricultural land use, data-centre-driven electricity demand, BESS regulation, and democratic participation in planning are now national issues, not isolated local disputes,” he adds.
Cronin says risks from having the equivalent of 19 shipping containers of batteries have not been adequately addressed, while what happens when the solar farm is eventually sold on, as is likely because PCRE is a private equity company, is unclear.
Ecologist Padraic Fogarty has followed the debate and believes solar is the most benign of renewable energy technologies – with even less impacts than those associated with wind farms.
No pollution arises from solar PV, while the absence of moving parts means birds don’t collide with panels. “There is no evidence of any negative effects,” he adds. Moreover, where they replace livestock on land, it removes a significant source of water and carbon pollution.
Fogarty says research indicates benefits for wildflowers, birds and wildlife; though “you still have to be mindful of where you put them”. He is not keen to have solar farms on boglands, given they are special ecosystems.
The reality, however, is that the vast majority of Irish land is of “low biodiversity value”, says Fogarty. Areas of high nature value are designated areas for protection and clearly mapped.
As with any development, careful planning is needed, he says, but solar PV is a form of decarbonisation that brings benefits for nature, which is often overlooked.
Lack of a land use plan for Ireland, however, means there are a lot of competing interests, including the need for a secure and sustainable food production system, he says. It leads to uncertainty and, often, “a free-for-all in the planning system. But I don’t worry about solar, the way I worry about data centres – even wind farms”.
Solar power is not about to overwhelm Ireland. When 8GW is reached, “we will have used 0.1 per cent of land”, says Power of Solar Ireland. On size, he says, 1,000-acre solar farms are not the norm. Because of EirGrid’s transmission system, a typical size is 500-600 acres.
Lack of planning guidelines and consistency in applying regulations is breeding some opposition, he says. “When people are informed, they object less.”
They have called for a land use policy with guidelines on zoning appropriate to the Government’s climate plan. RED III is designed to accelerate renewable energy deployment, but there is a lack of consistency in applying it. “In short, a rule book is required on how local authorities will apply this.”
Power welcomes Government commitment to enhanced grid investment, but the priority should be acceleration of delivery, thereby “ensuring grid infrastructure, system services and operational measures keep pace with renewable deployment”.
Critically, “there are enough [solar] assets in planning”. The onus is on getting them constructed, connected and delivering power in timely fashion – at present, 400MW is awaiting connection. As key players, EirGrid and ESB Networks “need to be held accountable for delivering these assets”, he adds.
Despite fossil fuels’ continuing dominance, renewables technology is expanding rapidly. The plunging cost of solar and large-scale battery storage is a potentially game-changing for electricity generation. By pairing photovoltaic arrays with utility-scale BESS, round-the-clock clean power is no longer theoretical. Solar-plus-storage hybrids outcompete new fossil-fuel alternatives in many regions.
The trouble with solar and wind plants has been intermittency; no supply when the sun doesn’t shine, or wind doesn’t blow. International Renewable Energy Agency (Irena) director-general Francesco La Camera has said this is no longer the case. “This question of intermittency has been played against renewables for a long time, by lobbyists looking for the eternal life of an energy system based on fossil fuels.”
In hailing the arrival of “24/7 renewables”, Irena portrays as obsolete conventional wisdom which holds, despite the emergence of solar and wind power as the cheapest form of energy, that you’ll always need more reliable “baseload” sources such as gas or nuclear plants as the core of electricity systems.
Power says the approach in Ireland will be somewhat different, dictated by local circumstances. But co-located renewable power sites with battery storage will bring us close to 100 per cent renewable electricity, he predicts. The right policies on on-site hybrid connection and private wires will leave power-generating assets (including solar) continuing to deliver power at times of lower demand, rather than being turned off.
