EirGrid has expressed its support for comments made yesterday (Thursday, November 11) by Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA) president Tim Cullinan in relation to farmers and the future of Ireland’s electricity grid infrastructure.
Cullinan had been responding to an EirGrid announcement on Wednesday, in which the company had revealed its ‘Shaping our Electricity Future‘ roadmap in a bid to “radically transform the country’s electricity grid”.
Reacting to this, Cullinan had said that it was “paramount” that both EirGrid and the ESB “fully recognise and respect” that the co-operation of farmers is “essential to the development of grid infrastructure”.
This evening (Friday, November 12), EirGrid has said that it welcomes the IFA president’s comments, agreeing that farmers “need to be central to Ireland’s energy transition”.
The company’s chief infrastructure officer Michael Mahon has said: “We are encouraged by IFA members wanting to be central players in Ireland’s energy transition and agree it should be achieved with farmers’ support.
“From our extensive engagement for the [roadmap], many people said a community-led-approach to renewable project developments, such as microgeneration, would provide significant community benefit; support acceptance of energy infrastructure; and demonstrate a grassroots contribution to achieving climate action targets,” Mahon added.
“Farmers are at the heart of this grassroots contribution and we look forward to working alongside them, the ESB and other stakeholders in achieving our renewable ambition.”
Sinead Dooley, EirGrid’s head of public engagement, commented: “It is clear to see the IFA and its members want to be central in meeting renewable energy targets and we want to thank them for their continued engagement on this.
“We look forward to continuing meaningful engagement with the IFA, its members and communities into the future,” Dooley added.
Among the key planned developments in EirGrid’s roadmap document are microgeneration and exploring the introduction of a new strand of community benefit funding to support landowners and communities undertaking these projects.
EirGrid has modelled that there will be 500MW of microgeneration by 2030, enough electricity for approximately 300,000 homes.