Here comes the sun
With rising costs and increased pressure to invest in sustainability on their farms, farmers are looking for ways to become more efficient and are embracing new technologies to meet these goals. Solar PV is one of the paths that many farmers are taking to address both costs and to address climate-action targets.
Pat Smith, MD of Local Power, believes that every farm in the country will have Solar PV installed by 2030, provided the right supports are in place: “The Targeted Agricultural Modernisation Scheme (TAMS) is going to be a massive encouragement for farmers to go down the road of renewable technology and especially Solar PV. The key now is that Government processes the grants as quickly as possible and that the funding is kept under continual review and increased incrementally. We are only at the start of a journey.”
Lagging behind
Commenting on whether or not Ireland has been slower regarding uptake of solar compared to other European countries, Pat says: “It’s fair to say that with regards to the support policies and issues such as access to the grid, Ireland has not been slow but very slow. We are laggards in this race – we are a decade behind the UK and other European countries. That is now changing, but still not quick enough. A key component, which will mean that farmers can adopt this technology, is that ESB networks and grid access has to be continually upgraded. If farmers have an ambition to put solar on roofs they need to be moving now to get applications in.”
The ESB, he adds, has come a long way in terms of the mini-generation and now small-scale generation connection schemes. “The process is simple but it should be cheaper and faster in terms of the applications. If there are inadequacies in the ESB national grid that restrict the capacity of microgeneration the Government should mandate it so that we can ensure that every farmer in the country can make use of the benefits of solar.”
The potential for growth
According to Pat, Solar PV is a well-proven technology and once the components are selected wisely a farmer can look forward to 30 years of guaranteed performance. “There are no moving parts, it is low maintenance and it is very dependable. It will work on most farms – the one thing all farmers have is plenty of roof space.”
He is keen to note that all farmers have a role to play: “I don’t categorise farmers as regards scale – farmers are farmers and categorisation in terms of scale is another divisive way of partitioning the sector. In an ideal world, they should speak with one voice and all have a proportionate role to play in tackling decarbonisation. Destocking and the supports that are being spoken about around this should be revisited for suckler cows as well as dairy cows; opportunities for farmers to grow silage should be encouraged as well as anaerobic digestion (AD) plants to facilitate that.”
Championing the farmer
Supporting the farmer goes beyond changing policy and providing grants, however; Pat stresses that the Government needs to champion Irish farmers and tackle the negative press that surrounds food production in Ireland: “More than anything, the Government and political parties should be speaking up for the farmer rather than allowing the negative narrative that currently exists around farming in Ireland. They should be championing the amazing role that farmers are playing in producing world-class food products, while also having the ability to help the country decarbonise with the proper supports.
“With 800 million people starving in the world and global population growth estimated to reach 10 billion by 2050, the use of agricultural land for food production has to remain a priority. The farming community is being misrepresented by some stakeholders in a negative role in relation to climate change. The real opportunity for all stakeholders is to highlight the positive role farmers can play to help decarbonise the country and this can be achieved through a range of measures including anaerobic digesters and solar power.”