Solar is fast becoming a renewable energy source to reckon with in Ireland, having just hit 1GW of solar power on the national grid.As an energy source, solar has a lot of catching up to do compared with other renewables in Ireland.
He identified the challenges as planning and consenting to solar farms and the speed at which those panels can be connected to the grid.Energy and Rural Development Specialist with Teagasc Barry Caslin said they are already seeing a huge amount of interest from farmers in solar PV panels. He said the interest is in beef and sheep farmers.
According to Census 2022, one-fifth of farmers were over the traditional retirement age of 65 and a further 27% of farmers were 55 or older.He added:"It can be more attractive than some of the alternatives of beef or sheep farming in terms of income." "Typically, panels would cover maybe 20%-40% of the land that we would obtain for a solar project...because there's large gaps between the panels, we have sheep grazing on one of our operational solar farms," Ms Howard said.
"The temporary nature of solar farms also means that the land can continue to be used for farming while it's operational," she said.A target of 8GW of solar energy would translate into about 12,000 hectares of land covered under solar PV between now and the end of the decade.