The chair of the Micro-Renewable Energy Federation (MREF) has said that legislation to provide planning exemptions for larger solar installations on farm buildings will come before the Dáil within a fortnight.
Pat Smith told the Agriland livestream at the National Ploughing Championships that he was informed of the timeline in a call with the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government.
“I was talking to the department of planning last week. I phone them every week because we are four years trying to get these planning exclusions.
“As of last week, they tell me that the legislation will be brought before the Dáil in the next two weeks and will be passed. Hopefully after that the planning solutions will be in place,” he said.
“It is incredible that something as basic as providing planning exclusions for solar PV has taken four years. There’s something wrong.”
The MREF chair said that the agriculture sector will see a huge increase in solar PV in the coming years.
“It’s going to be driven by the economics of it and obviously the fact that the farming community, in particular, want to be as sustainable as possible.
“We know that the government is looking at providing specific grants for the farming community for solar PV. Those grants need to be generous so the paybacks are below five years.
“They need to get rid of the restrictions in TAMS [Targeted Agricultural Modernisation Scheme] so that the system is sized correctly to meet the farmer’s needs and comply with ESB networks.
“I think the challenge for the government has to be to come forward with a scheme that is easily accessible, that makes sense to farmers, that removes all the restrictions and supports not alone the solar PV but also battery storage.
“There is an energy crisis, as we know, and if the government are supporting enough of this, there’s 100,000 farmers out there that could very quickly adopt the technology and certainly help the country deal with the crisis,” Smith said.
Meanwhile, Barry Caslin, energy and rural development specialist with Teagasc, advised farmers to do their research ahead of installing renewable technologies.
He said that farmers should examine the credentials of renewable companies to ensure they have experience in the agriculture sector and that the technology they provide is robust.
He said that farmers should consider the product and performance warranties provided by the company.