Beaulieu House solar farm - history and energy meet

Overlooking the River Boyne, Beaulieu House is rich in history. Constructed by Sir Henry Tichborne in the late seventeenth century, Beaulieu House stands prominently on the northern banks of the River Boyne in Drogheda. The house and grounds are of significant architectural, archaeological and historical importance.

Therefore, it may not be the first place you would expect to find one of Ireland’s first solar farms.

However, under the stewardship of 11th generation owner Cara Konig-Brock and Irish developer Power Capital, a 22-acre solar farm was officially launched late last month on the grounds of Beaulieu House and farm.

Cara and Power Capital invited stakeholders and partners to visit the project and learn about the journey. The Irish Farmers Journal also attended the open day.

The solar farm

The 5MW solar farm sits on approximately 22 acres of Cara’s farm, one kilometre from Beaulieu House. The solar farm produces enough electricity to power around 1,500 homes per year.

The solar farm’s 17,600 PV modules produce DC electricity, which is converted to AC electricity via inverters, before being exported to the national grid via a 3.3km underground cable to the Termonfeckin substation.

The solar farm was one of the first to be developed by Power Capital. Over its lifetime, it will displace around 60,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions.

Diversification

Cara explained that when she was first approached by Power Capital in 2015 to develop a solar farm on her land, she was interested. The need to reduce global emissions was something she was aware of from a young age. Cara’s granny, Sidney, first warned her about climate change in the 1990s. She said her granny could tell the climate was changing as a result of global warming, and this was noticeable on the farm.

However, Cara also saw a potential long-term lease as an opportunity to diversify farm income and support the upkeep of Beaulieu House.

“You find if you’re the owner of a very old house like this, you tend to be spinning plates to keep up the management,” explained Cara.

Landowners for the first solar farms in Ireland typically received around €1,000 per acre per year. At these rates, this solar farm lease would generate around €22,000 per year before tax.

“The income is very welcome for the next 30 years. It’s a way of diversifying the farm, which is not big enough to support a house of this age and fragility,” she said.

Journey

Cara explained that there were seven other sites screened in the area for the solar farm. Despite the extra challenges associated with building a solar farm on land of such significant historical importance, her fields were chosen by Power Capital. It is clear that Cara believed in and was passionate about this project from the start, acting more like a project partner than just a landowner.

Indeed, the need for a strong partnership between landowner and developer was an important theme of the event.

Justin Brown, co-owner of Power Capital, acknowledged that the journey was not straightforward, however.

After signing the options agreement with Cara in 2017, work began on the planning application, and Cara and Justin visited neighbours in the area to discuss the project.

At the time, solar farms were still relatively new in Ireland. Despite this, the planning was approved in 2018 with no objections and 21 conditions.

In 2020, the first auction of the State support scheme RESS was launched, and Power Capital successfully secured 15 years of State support to build the solar farm at a price of €72.92/MWh.

This made it possible to sign a lease with Cara for 20 years, along with two five-year extensions.

However, with the onset of COVID-19, the project began to look in jeopardy. Justin explained that massive interest rate increases, supply chain disruptions and significant increases in infrastructure costs meant the tariff awarded in the auction no longer met the project’s financial needs.

He said it wasn’t right to walk away after the huge amount of effort and commitment by everyone involved, so they had to find a new way to make it work.

Microsoft

In 2022, global tech giant Microsoft committed to powering 100% of its data centre’s electricity load with renewable energy by 2025. As a result, Microsoft entered into multi-year Corporate Power Purchase Agreements with Power Capital and other developers, securing more than 900MW of onshore wind and solar energy from projects across Ireland.

The solar farm at Beaulieu House was one of these projects, and Microsoft agreed to buy the power from the project for 15 years, allowing the solar farm to be constructed.

Maintenance

In addition to the lease income, Cara will also maintain the grass and hedges around the solar farm, generating another source of income for her house and farm. The cleaning of the panels will be organised by Power Capital and generally will be done twice a year to remove dust, dirt and bird droppings. New hedgerows will be planted using native hawthorn, and bat and bird boxes will be installed around the site.

The new and old

Cara explained to attendees that she liked the idea of progress and that a cutting-edge solar farm would be less than one km from her house. “I have no doubt that if Granny were here today, she would be intrigued by a solar array on her farm and she would appreciate the pairing of new technology with an ancient place, recognising how important solar technology will be not only for generating new energy but also for Ireland’s transition out of fossil fuels,” she said.