Coillte to instigate search for solar energy partner

Coillte, the State-owned forestry body, is targeting an expansion into the solar energy market and is likely to begin seeking a development partner imminently.

It is believed Coillte may open a tender process for a solar partner by tomorrow. An effective moth-balling of plans to build €15bn worth of wind farms across the midland counties to position Ireland as a renewable energy exporter to Britain has seen numerous industry players turn their attention to solar energy projects.

Earlier this year, it was reported that Bord na Mona plans to get involved in solar energy by providing land to Lightsource Renewable Energy — the largest solar energy firm in the UK — which is aiming to spend €500m on building solar farms in the midlands.

New projects being considered by Bord na Mona and Coillte would be separate to their proposed partial merger which will see them overlap their tourism, biomass and wind energy divisions from next year. Coillte made no comment yesterday.

The Government is set to open a consultancy period, over the next few weeks, which will form some of the thinking behind its white paper on energy policy for the next 15 years, which is due for publication later this year. The inclusion of solar projects for government subsidies is likely to be a strong theme. Speaking this week, Lightsource CEO, Nick Boyle said the timing for providing solar energy in Ireland is “opportune”.

“Solar has gone through some monumental changes in pricing and ease of deployment. Therefore, there is a prime opportunity for Ireland to ‘piggy-back’ onto this price rationalisation to maximise value for money for the State and consumers alike,” he added.