There\u2019s a quiet revolution across Ireland\u2019s countryside and mixed feelings float around it. Solar panels are sprouting up on some of the country\u2019s best farmland. And the debate that\u2019s unfolding in county council chambers is one the nation needed a couple years ago. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Councillors brought this up at Meath County Council\u2019s April meeting, demanding proper national guidelines<\/strong> for solar farm development. Farmlands stand to benefit highly from solar. The problem comes from watching agricultural land disappear under panels without <\/strong>any real framework telling where these projects should actually go. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u200bHere\u2019s where it gets messy. Applications for solar farms sail through, but developers aren\u2019t sorting out the grid connection and requirements up front. Among local representatives, it\u2019s this bizarre situation where permission is granted first and landowners are approached later.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s backwards planning really. For something that can transform Ireland\u2019s energy landscape, the whole approach feels a bit rushed. Sure it\u2019s not an issue of developers trying to cut corners. But there\u2019s no clear framework requiring <\/strong>this planning upfront. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Now the Programme for Government did make a commitment to develop planning guidelines for solar energy and battery storage. It\u2019s right there in the policy document. But these aren\u2019t taking shape while applications keep flowing in. <\/p>\n\n\n\n From an engineering standpoint, the grid connection piece needs to be in the initial application. Developers must demonstrate how their project will connect to the grid before <\/strong>permission is granted. This means completing proper surveys in the design phase: Identifying substation locations, cable routes, and grid constraints upfront. <\/p>\n\n\n\n And guidelines for this need to actually materialize. Not in a couple more years but now. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Second, there needs to be meaningful consultation with the community. When they can see the full scope from the beginning it leads to better dialogue and outcomes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Agrivoltaics are something brought up as a solution. Essentially using the same land for both solar and farming. Sheep grazing beneath solar arrays. Wildflowers between panel rows. And crops growing under elevated panels. Projects in Germany have been rolling these out at scale and claim serious bumps in productivity. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Minister of Climate Darragh O\u2019Brien pointed out that Ireland\u2019s entire 8 GW solar target would use up just about 0.26% of agricultural land \u2013 roughly 32,000 acres. The question again isn\u2019t whether farmland gets used. It\u2019s about picking sites that make sense and building in some <\/strong>bio wins while we\u2019re at it. These are some proper engineering and planning problems. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Clear national guidelines would benefit everyone in this space. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Developers would have a predictable framework to work within. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Engineering teams could plan infrastructure properly from the start.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And communities would have transparency and clear protection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s important not to see the guidelines Meath councillors calling for as a roadblock. The ask is for the kind of structured planning that large projects actually need to succeed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n When the producer of 70% of Ireland\u2019s broccoli calls the solar farm strategy \u201cflawed\u201d, it deserves an ear. Prime farmland, described as some of the finest in Europe, is being converted to energy production for what could be 40 years or more. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Once again this is not a \u201csolar vs farming\u201d question. The debate in council chambers has moved past simple avoidance of agricultural land, which is good. The government recognizes that meeting Ireland\u2019s renewable targets will require a mix of agricultural land. The key word is how<\/strong>. Because botching a solar rollout could poison the well for future green projects. <\/p>\n\n\n\n When you\u2019re shaping the countryside for the next generation, plans and guidelines need to be mandatory. What flies in Cork might not work in Meath. Consistency and clear hierarchy of where solar should and shouldn\u2019t go \u2013 will go a long way in securing Ireland\u2019s clean energy future. <\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" There\u2019s a quiet revolution across Ireland\u2019s countryside and mixed feelings float around it. Solar panels are sprouting up on some of the country\u2019s best farmland. And the debate that\u2019s unfolding in county council chambers is one the nation needed a couple years ago. Councillors brought this up at Meath County Council\u2019s April meeting, demanding proper […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":7889,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"set","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[49,77,32,149,177,26,171],"class_list":["post-7888","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-our-blog","tag-blog","tag-clean-energy","tag-energy-efficiency","tag-ireland","tag-ireland-solar","tag-solar","tag-solar-farm"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.finulent.com\/insights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7888","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.finulent.com\/insights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.finulent.com\/insights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.finulent.com\/insights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.finulent.com\/insights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7888"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.finulent.com\/insights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7888\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7890,"href":"https:\/\/www.finulent.com\/insights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7888\/revisions\/7890"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.finulent.com\/insights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7889"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.finulent.com\/insights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7888"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.finulent.com\/insights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7888"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.finulent.com\/insights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7888"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}The cart before the horse<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
The need for a planning system\u00a0<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
Dual-use is more than a buzzword\u00a0<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
The difference it makes <\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
Very real stakes <\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n