Solar plan to power 150,000 homes

ESB and Bord na Móna have announced a deal to develop four solar farms across the Midlands to power 150,000 homes.

The joint venture will see solar panels being introduced in four remote areas of bogland in parts of Roscommon, Kildare, and Offaly in a €500m investment. They will cover about 2,500 acres, amounting to around 1% of Bord na Móna’s total landbank.

Planning permission has yet to be secured for the project, which will require around two years of front-end engineering and planning work to be carried out before an expected rollout date in 2019.

Renewable energy in Ireland is predominately generated from the wind. However, it is government policy to introduce more diversity in the renewable energy sector by promoting other technologies such as biomass, wave, tidal, and solar energy.

Currently, solar technology is not commercially viable due to the historic cost of solar panels and the difficulty in storing the electricity generated in batteries.

However, ESB chief executive Pat O’Doherty said the technology to make solar power viable is rapidly advancing.

“The holy grail of electricity production is being able to store it. Today, it is not possible to store electricity commercially in battery technology but, again, the cost of batteries is plummeting also,” he told RTÉ radio.

“I’d anticipate by the end of the next decade we will see large-scale deployment of solar — large scale and small scale on commercial and residential rooftops — coupled with battery technology and that is the energy system of the future.”

Bord na Móna chief executive Mike Quinn said consultation with the communities involved would be “at the heart of the project”.

“From our long history of working together in communities right across Ireland, Bord na Móna and ESB bring considerable expertise and knowledge in delivering best in class community engagement around our projects, ensuring a clear commitment to open and transparent engagement with households adjacent to any proposed development,” he said.

Meanwhile, SSE Airtricity confirmed it has reached an agreement with renewable energy developer BayWare for the largest solar farm on the island of Ireland. The 194-acre farm, located at Bann Rd in Antrim, will deliver enough green energy to power 14,000 homes.

The agreement will run for 15 years and represents a further move into the solar power sector for SSE Airtricity.

Earlier this year, it developed a 1,400-panel, 420 kilowatt peak solar array on the roof of the Odyssey Complex in Belfast, generating enough renewable energy to offset roughly 200 tonnes of harmful carbon emissions annually.

The head of SSE Airtricity market services, Peter Lord, said the company is a perfect fit for such a project.

“We’re delighted to be partnering with BayWare. for a project of this scale and significance. At SSE Airtricity, we have a great deal of capability and experience in energy market trading, which makes us ideally-placed for this type of power purchase agreement.”

“This agreement allows the solar farm at Bann Rd to deliver clean, green energy for customers, while further securing SSE Airtricity’s proud position as the leading renewable energy provider on the island of Ireland.”

BayWare managing director of solar projects, Benedikt Ortmann, said the renewable energy market in Ireland would only continue to grow.

“While we construct and operate solar parks globally, Bann Rd marks our first solar project on the island of Ireland,” he said.

“The market here is in an early stage of development and we expect to see a lot more growth as the island of Ireland seeks to meet an increasing amount of its energy needs from renewable sources. It’s very gratifying to have brought this landmark project to fruition and we’re delighted to be working alongside SSE Airtricity in securing the power purchase agreement.”