Irish National Public Service Media

Meáin Náisiúnta Seirbhíse Poiblí na hÉireann

As the demand for electricity grows, decarbonizing our electricity network while maintaining electricity supply may be one of the most serious challenges in the coming years.

Farmers say they can be part of solving this problem. However, arrangements for individuals to sell surplus electricity from households or businesses to the grid have not yet been put in place.

Most farmers have several barns or sheds, and there may be a lot of roof space on top of these outbuildings.

Some people have installed solar photovoltaic panels to generate electricity, but the Micro Renewable Energy Association said that there is still great potential for expansion.

Chairman Pat Smith believes that rooftop solar panels installed on farms and other businesses can generate up to 3 gigawatts of electricity.

Currently, the total capacity of all wind farms in Ireland is slightly less than 4.5 GW, so adding 3 GW to the grid will have a significant impact.

Mr. Smith said: "In most other countries in Europe, the farmer’s roof space is covered by solar photovoltaics to generate electricity for farms and businesses and export to the grid.

"At this point, we hope that the government can take the initiative and empower agricultural communities to take action."

Patrick Bradley, a dairy farmer at Co Leitrim, recently installed solar panels on the roof of his farm. He produces and bottled raw milk on his farm.

Mr. Bradley said: "So it keeps cooling, it keeps heating water, it keeps washing, it is washing, washing, we use a lot of hot water and obviously a lot of cooling, so this is the biggest purpose of our electricity."

"I am very satisfied with them and I never stop looking at them.

"They have been in power, even yesterday in October. It was a clear day and there was actually an oversupply at noon."

Patrick said that if given the appropriate incentives, he has room to increase solar power generation capacity by eight times.

However, a system that allows people who use renewable energy sources such as solar, wind, or hydropower to generate electricity to sell excess electricity back to the grid is not yet in place.

If people can easily sell these surpluses, they can be motivated to invest in green energy because they can recover their investment more quickly.

Paula Carroll, assistant professor at UCD Energy Research Institute, said that compared with other European countries such as Germany, Ireland's adoption of solar micro-power generation is very slow.

She said that part of the reason is that people think we are too far from the north, but solar panels do work in Ireland.

"In a way, we gained a late-mover advantage because they invested in all of this, which meant a lot of research and a lot of innovation, so the technology was improved," Ms. Carroll added.

She said that in achieving climate goals, the government needs to take action in this regard.

In terms of technology, ESB Networks said it is ready to connect to micro power generation.

Ellen Diskin is responsible for national network and local connection plans.

"The grid is ready for micro power generation. We really need to be notified to ensure that the notification process is now free, fast and simple.

"Next are the rules of payment, pricing and smart metering so that we can measure what people are selling to the grid," she said.

ESB Networks stated that it is working to introduce smart meters to customers with micro power generation before announcing the payment system.

Ms. Diskin said that micro-generation is more effective than the long-distance transmission of electricity through the grid, and the green principles of on-site shopping and on-site consumption also apply to electricity.

Regarding how much micro-generation capacity the grid can accommodate, she said, "The estimate is rising because we see that absorption is really accelerating...so we are planning for a high penetration rate."

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