renewable energy magazine
RESS-2 to define Ireland’s solar ambitions With Ireland set to ramp up its decarbonisation ambitions through the forthcoming Climate Action Plan, the size of the role solar PV has to play in 2030 targets will largely be defined by RESS-2. If 2020 was recognised as a major breakthrough for the solar PV in Ireland, then 2021/22 will undoubtedly shape its deployment over the next decade. The trend of Solar PV generation in Ireland since 2014 is one of rapid growth, however, given its low base start, Solar PV still makes up a relatively small percentage of overall renewable electricity generation. The awarding of 63 contracts to solar projects, totalling over 1,000MW (767.3 GWh), during the 2020 RESS-1 auction marked the first major move of solar farms into Ireland’s renewable energy mix and represented a clear signal from government that it valued the role of solar PV in Ireland’s decarbonisation ambitions. However, how much emphasis the Government puts on the solar PV
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contribution will be defined by RESS-2, the next auction being planned by government to take place at the end of 2021 or beginning of 2022. Additionally, the forthcoming Climate Action Plan, expected to increase the decarbonisation of its 2019 predecessor, will go some way to outlining solar PV generation targets and defining investor confidence in the market. While the Government has indicated its support for the solar industry, it has been slow to act on some of the rhetoric. The Programme for Government pledges to expand and incentivise microgeneration, including rooftop solar energy. There is also a pledge within to develop a Solar Energy Strategy for rooftop and ground-based photovoltaics, “to ensure that a greater share of our electricity needs is met
through solar power”. The conclusion of the review of the current planning exemptions relating to solar panels, to “ensure that households, schools, and communities can be strong champions of climate action” was also signposted. Action 30 of the 2019 Climate Action Plan states that a support payment for excess electricity generated and exported to the grid will be available to all Irish micro-generators by late 2021, “whilst ensuring principles of equity, self-consumption and energy efficiency first are incorporated”; this payment mechanism has yet to be finalised, although the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications (DCCAE) began consultation on such a scheme in January 2021. The consultation, which closed in February, looked to build on the Economic Assessment of
