Solar farm invasion
How rural Ireland is being sacrificed for the profit of green energy firms
AS YET there isn’t a single one in the country. But the landscape of rural Ireland is soon set to change drastically with the imminent arrival of massive solar farms.
Where once there were rolling pastures and fields of corn, there will be tens of thousands of acres covered in glass panels tilted and raised almost three metres from the ground.
A new planning application for a solar farm is being lodged every two days in Ireland. Many have already received permission but so far there are no planning guidelines regulating the industry.
Just under 200 planning applications for farms measuring an average 30 acres were received in the past year, with the highest numbers in Meath, Cork and Wexford.
Several of the proposed farms extend to over 100 acres and several more are grouped together meaning the farms will extend as far as the eye can see.
Similar installations in mainland Europe are mainly built on brownfield sites or on commercial roofs, but almost all the planning applications in Ireland are on prime farmland, often in scenic beauty spots.
Here landowners are being offered substantially more rent for their acreage than they traditionally collect from tenant farmers or other leasees. Already 20,000 acres of farmland is contracted to solar developers.
Rents offered range from €700 to €1,000 per acre per annum compared with €314 for a government afforestation grant.
Companies, many of them Britishbased, have launched aggressive campaigns to acquire more land. ‘Make your land work harder with a solar farm installed for free,’ reads one ad in a farming newspaper.
David Maguire, CEO of Dublinbased developer BNRG Renewables and chairman of the Irish Solar Energy Association, admits good profits are to be made.
‘We wouldn’t be doing it otherwise but we’re not making huge profits like those of windfarms. It’s a single digit return, like a pension fund but a steady one. It’s happening now because new technology means Ireland is suitable for solar energy whereas before it wasn’t,’ he says.
His industry is also lobbying hard for Government subsidies.
Liz Truss the British Environment Secretary has said large-scale solar farms are ‘a blight on the landscape’ and confirmed plans to cut a taxpayer subsidy to farmers and landowners for the schemes.
Local protestors say the farms will have a greater impact than the controversial wind-farm industry.
As well as the glass panels, there will be steel security fencing, sub stations and, in many cases, overhead pylons to bring electricity to the grid. Campaigners say wildlife habitats will be damaged or destroyed.
Now public representatives are warning of a backlash by communities opposed to the projects – which could be vital in helping Ireland keep to its renewable energy 2020 targets and avoid enormous fines.
Councillors in Cork have passed a motion calling for a moratorium on planning permissions for these farms until guidelines are put in place. A similar motion is before Meath County Council next week.
Still the applications keep coming. ESB and Bord na Móna announced
‘Prime farmland... often scenic beauty spots’
plans this week for a joint venture to develop solar farms on thousands of acres. They say the project, which will involve large swathes of peatland, will provide renewable energy for thousands of homes.
They are planning to develop solar power at four locations in counties Roscommon, Offaly and Kildare.
Earlier this year, Mr Maguire’s BNRG Renewables, struck a deal to build almost two dozen solar farms worth more than €220m across the south and east of the country in conjunction with French renewable energy group Neoen.
Dublin firm JBM Solar Developments is planning a massive €35m farm near Dublin Airport. It would be five times bigger than the typical solar farm site and large enough to provide power for 5,500 homes.
Bord na Móna, which has committed to providing 95% of its energy by renewable means by 2030, says: ‘The reduction in the cost of solar technology has made it a more financially viable option and this partnership aims to generate enough renewable energy to power the equivalent of 150,000 homes.’
However others are not convinced. Kevin Murphy of Cork County Council, where 25 solar planning applications were lodged last year, says communities don’t have a say.
‘There is no restriction on how near you can go to houses, no guidance on how to prevent them interfering with flood plains, no standard measurement of glare and glint and no way of assessing the impact in terms of devaluation of neighbouring properties,’ he said.