Over 3,000ac of solar farms receive State support

Over 3,000ac of solar farms are set to receive 15-year State-backed support under the latest round of the Renewable Electricity Support Scheme (RESS 5), which sees developers bid for support – 18 solar farm and five wind farm projects were successful.

A total of 860MW of solar and 219MW of wind capacity will now be built and commissioned over the next two years, with the projects operating for 30-40 years. This is the equivalent electricity to power 350,000 homes each year.

A total of 40 projects applied to participate in the RESS 5 qualification process, but just 18 were successful.

Thirteen of the solar farm projects are located in Leinster, with five in Munster. Meath and Wicklow see the highest number of projects, at four each, but Meath has the largest area of solar farms, at around 800ac. Wexford has the largest single solar farm, at around 380ac.

Tipperary has a total of two successful solar farms, as does Wexford, while Cork, Carlow, Kildare, Limerick, Offaly and Waterford each have one.

Cork, Wicklow, Tipperary, Waterford and Mayo each see one wind farm successful in the auction. The Lyrenacarriga Wind Farm and battery energy storage system in Waterford is the largest wind farm, with a capacity of 82MW, comprising of 17 turbines.

The RESS 5 average support price for the successful projects is €98.81/MWh, a small increase from €96.85/MWh in RESS 4. When this is broken down between the two systems, the solar farm support price is €100.63/MWh, while the wind farm price is €96.56/MWh.

It should be noted that the support price for smaller, individual farm turbines in a separate scheme is just €80/MWh.

All projects must contribute to a community benefit fund at €2/MWh, equating to €3m annually for 15 years. The auction results were welcomed, with Solar Ireland CEO Ronan Power saying they validate solar’s scale and role in energy security. Wind Energy Ireland CEO Noel Cunniffe said: “We’re delighted five projects won contracts, but had hoped for a bigger auction and more projects getting over the line.”