Any expectation of a solar tariff any day now must be taken with a large dose of salt. Indeed, the concept of fixed tariffs may be displaced in favour of pricing systems that go up and down with the wholesale electricity market.

Our Government has a track record of supporting low-carbon generation, and has had feed-in-tariffs in place for wind, biomass and other technologies. The present supports will end in 2016 and a new energy white paper has been undergoing a lengthy gestation period under the watch of successive ministers, with an expectation to publish towards the end of 2015.

There is a level of expectation that this white paper will set a framework for developing and encouraging a wider range of technologies, including renewable heating, solar and marine energy. And yet a framework is just that – a set of sweeping statements and high-level ambition; a car with no engine so to speak. The real horsepower under the bonnet is delivered by the specific policies to deliver on that ambition.

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To support a new technology, a lengthy consultation and legislation cycle begins. Civil servants draft up schemes. Regulators deliberate about it. Legislators examine and debate about it. Environmental studies are carried out, consultancy reports commissioned. At each and every step, we the citizens are consulted. Finally, the whole package is submitted to the EU for state-aid clearance. And yet there is a good opportunity to diversify the Irish energy generation mix and encourage a new solar market.

Apart from reducing our reliance on imported fossil fuels, and the obvious challenges in relying on wind alone to do so, solar has many advantages. Some form of consumer levy or exchequer funding is required to support grid-connected solar. A fall in the cost of solar technology has made this a more reasonable proposition. All concerned must keep the shoulder to the wheel to deliver a new policy within the minimum time frame – this is two years in my opinion.

So why bother about solar just now? There is a level of interest in utility scale schemes to sell electricity into the grid and these require supports. There is a finite quantity of solar that support schemes can fund, or indeed that the electricity grid can accept.

Fixed solar panels are benign structures with very low impact on man, beast or plant, but they have not met with universal support. A 5MW project submitted for planning in Wexford has got approval, but only after a Bord Pleanala oral hearing. It shows that planning and other consents will take time to deliver.

Caution

I sound these notes of caution as a participant and investor in the solar sector. I have established Solar PV Ireland to bring forward a small number of viable utility scale sites with willing partners. We are also promoting community investment opportunities, but not in the risky early stages of projects.

Some opportunities to self-supply make sense at the moment without any fiscal support, though these tend to be small-scale. AIB intends to place PV panels on its roofs in Ballsbridge for self-supply. At farm level there are generally large sheds which can accommodate solar PV and replace own consumption with a cost saving.

Here is some advice for landowners considering a solar proposal. Ask yourself, am I dealing with credible people? Do they have the competence to deliver a revenue-generating solar park?

Avoid no-transaction, no-commitment offers, such as exclusivity periods or letters of comfort.

If a promoter is serious, he or she will have assessed your site and should be in a position to pay an option fee up front. They should also cover your costs for an independent solicitor.

Try and look past the money. If it looks too good to be true, it probably is. Solar parks should pay a rent that exceeds most alternative agricultural enterprises, and importantly, allow pasture grazing on at least 75% of the land area.

Tom Bruton, runs Solar PV Ireland (info@solarpv.ie) and is a past president of the Irish Bioenergy Association