Renewable electricity schemes to generate questions at Energy in Agriculture

The way homeowners generate and use electricity is changing, thanks to a new grant scheme for rooftop solar photovoltaic systems recently announced by Denis Naughten, Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment. The grant scheme will be administered by the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland, which will be available this Tuesday at the Energy in Agriculture event to answer questions.

The scheme will provide a contribution of up to €3,800 towards total installation costs. To maximise self-consumption, the scheme requires that any installation greater than 2kWp must install a battery to store excess energy. Where installations are 2kWp or less in size, it is recommended to install a hot water diverter and excess electricity will be used to heat water.

Farm buildings

While the current scheme is only for farmhouses and residential buildings generally, it surely provides a basis for the expansion of the scheme in the near future for all farm buildings.

This new grant scheme follows on from the publication by Minister Naughten of a framework for a new Renewable Electricity Support Scheme (RESS) for larger-scale, non-residential projects. The RESS document places a welcomed emphasis on community participation in future renewable projects, although it has not recognised the additional supports required for categories such as farm-scale projects.

The move away from a feed-in tariff model, as set out in the RESS document, to an auction-type scheme may ultimately favour larger-scale projects, particularly wind. This would be to the exclusion of small to medium farm-scale, community-based projects, where a multitude of alternative technologies can be deployed.

This will not lead to a balanced mix of energy sources, which will continue to add to community concerns

This will not lead to a balanced mix of energy sources, which will continue to add to community concerns and also limit Ireland’s security of energy supply.

This and many other topics will form part of the many questions put to panelists, including Minister Naughten, IFA president Joe Healy, EPA director Matt Crowe, Tipperary Energy Agency chief executive Paul Kenny, Teagasc’s energy specialist Barry Caslin and others at Energy in Agriculture 2018 this Tuesday. Make sure not to miss it.

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