SOLAR: GROWING TOGETHER FOR OUR FUTURE
Updated October 04, 2024
By Morgan Pierce
It seems Ireland is doing some things right. And one of the things it’s doing right is encouraging the take-up of renewable energy at the “micro-generation” level. “Micro-generators”, for the uninitiated, are the homes, businesses, and farms across the country where ordinary people are switching to green energy sources like solar.
The Government’s Climate Action Plan aims to deliver 80% of electricity to the national grid from renewables by 2030 – 8GW of that from solar. It’s an important switch that will help Ireland meet its climate change targets.
Just as important for those “micro-generators” involved, though, it’s a switch that can lead to dramatic savings on their energy bills.
Micro-generation includes things like solar panels, or a single wind or hydro turbine. A government initiative called the Micro-generation Support Scheme enables individuals and business to sell the excess electricity generated from these renewable sources to the grid through their electricity provider.
If you sell excess renewable energy to the grid, you get a payment through a mechanism called the Clean Export Guarantee (CEG). The amount one gets paid differs from one provider to another, but payment is now required. The government intends the scheme to deliver 380MW of solar energy to the grid from those individual “micro” projects by 2030 – the equivalent of over 1 million solar panels on approximately 70,000 buildings.
It’s an ambitious plan, and not one without a few challenges that will need to be faced. The main challenge, according to the experts, is that Ireland’s electricity transmission system – commonly called “the Grid” – wasn’t built to accommodate renewables.
A Grid to Support Renewables and Micro Generation
“The transmission system was developed to bring power from large generating plants like Moneypoint, Ardnacrusha and Poolbeg to the distribution system.” Eirgrid’s Louise O’Flanagan, said recently. “We need to look at what the grid will look like in 2030. It will be a very different asset base to the one we manage now.”
The grid’s network of underground cables, overhead lines, and substations run the length and breadth of the country. But most of the existing network was installed before we began putting renewable energy, at scale, onto our grid.
We need new power lines, cables and substations to move electricity as efficiently as possible – wind from widespread farms and solar from thousands of buildings. It will be a much different system than the one that was fed by a few large energy generators.
Eirgrid’s O’Flanagan speaks of the Grid as needing to expand over time with hundreds of kilometres of new cables being added along with supporting infrastructure.
Perhaps in recognition of the fact that such projects often run into opposition, O’Flanagan and others are emphasising the importance of community engagement and of re-purposing existing infrastructure ahead of breaking new ground.
“Developing new assets will be avoided where possible.” O’Flanagan said in a press release. “As we move to 80 per cent renewables we want to make the most of the existing grid….It requires a huge investment to build new assets. Maximising the efficiency of existing assets is a quick win.”
Meeting the technical demands required to move to an electricity system largely free of fossil fuels will mean completing some 350 projects in Ireland by 2030. To minimise the need for new infrastructure, company statements show, Eirgrid has focused heavily on projects that involve upgrading the existing network.
Planned upgrades to the grid “needs to happen at speed and at scale”, according to the Micro-Renewable Energy Federation. MREF works on behalf of our industry and is pushing the Irish government to fulfil its commitment to support micro-generation – including solar.
It is also “vital that this goodwill among key stakeholders is nurtured and supported to ensure that these necessary grid upgrades happen at the speed required to meet urgent climate change targets,” MREF chairperson Pat Smith said.
In the 20th century, the Rural Electrification Scheme brought electricity to 1.75 million people – and transformed the Irish countryside. According to Dr Fionn Rogan, of UCC’s MaREI Research Centre for Energy, Climate and Marine:
“Switching on an electric light for the first time was an unprecedented change for a generation of people in rural Ireland in the 1940s and 1950s. Each household had to be persuaded by the ESB to pay a usage and regular flat fee (“the ground rent”). They had to allow new technology (poles, wires, a meter, fuse-boxes, sockets) into their homes and they had to accept a strange new service (“the electric”) that few understood and many feared. For the next generation that grew up with electricity, it was the most normal thing in the world.”
The government’s climate action plans require the same level of “buy in”. A greener, more prosperous Ireland, would be the reward.
To discuss how your home or business can save money with low-cost solar and be a part of Ireland’s energy revolution, give us a call.
Why Choose Solar In Ireland?
Investing in a solar panel systems in Ireland can bring many benefits, including reduced energy bills, increased energy independence, and a reduced carbon footprint. If you are interested in installing a solar panel system in Ireland, it is also worth exploring the different grant options and green business loans available and seeking professional advice from one of our solar energy advisors.
Feel free to contact us for more information, we’re here to help.
