Two decades past, Paul McCue made a life-altering decision to relocate his family from the hustle of Mulhuddart, Dublin, to the tranquil beauty of the countryside. Their chosen home was a secluded worker’s cottage in Fidorfe, a serene townland near Ashbourne in Co Meath. This idyllic country dwelling with its distinctive red door was everything the McCue family had dreamt of.
Throughout the summer months, the family could enjoy the simple pleasures of rural life, like spotting pheasants and rabbits in their garden. But their peaceful existence was disrupted two years ago as the neighbouring farm underwent a transformation. It was being modified into a solar farm.
In the period that followed this upheaval, their humble home found itself increasingly enveloped by a network of photovoltaic (PV) panels. These panels, which convert sunlight into electricity, sprawled out in every direction, swallowing up the surrounding scenery. The McCue’s cottage was now a solitary entity amidst an ocean of gleaming glass panels.
Feeling trapped and isolated, Paul now wishes to vacate the cottage. Despite his efforts to sell, potential buyers are few and far between. He conveys his belief that the vast collection of solar panels are discouraging people from making an offer.
Paul expresses his apprehension about the plausible health risks posed to him and his family due to living on a solar farm. It’s an uncomfortable and unsettling situation, to say the least.
Meanwhile, Eamon Ryan, Minister for the Environment, announced just prior to Christmas that the solar power sector in Ireland has seen an extraordinary boom. This is no exaggeration – only two years prior, Ireland had the worst solar energy output per capita in the entire EU – an astonishing 50 times less than the Netherlands.
Initially, the Irish Government had set a target of producing 2.5 gigawatts (GW) of solar power by 2030, capable of providing electricity to around 750,000 homes. But by 2022, solar PV power was no longer a peripheral technology. It had become an integral part of the country’s renewable energy strategy. Thus, the goal was accelerated and amplified, reaching 8GW for 2030, sufficient to light up more than six million homes.
Dr Hannah Daly, a Sustainable Energy Professor at UCC, has highlighted the global exponential growth of solar energy. She points to China, which last year installed the equivalent in solar photovoltaics (PV) to the world’s total in 2020, as a testament to the continually decreasing costs and improving efficiency. Ireland, though late to the solar revolution in comparison to other European countries, still has an opportunity to swiftly adopt this easily scalable technology.
Conall Bolger, CEO of the Irish Solar Energy Association, is optimistic about the uptake of solar PV in Ireland. Last year, during the June bank holiday, solar PV remarkably accounted for 18 percent of the country’s total electricity. By 2023, as many as 700 solar panels were being affixed to home roofs every week. Moreover, the proposal pipeline includes 2,700 possible industrial initiatives and several hundred planning applications for large-scale solar farms, which, once approved, could lead to nationwide expansion.
Despite the critics who bear some suspicion about the fast adoption of this new technology, Bolger remains confident that Ireland could reach its goal of 8GW for solar energy by 2030 given the vast number of planned projects.
However, objections have been raised by both individuals and groups about the installation of solar farms in areas like Cork, Offaly, Laois, Kildare, and Meath, with concerns about visual intrusion, glare from panels, negative biodiversity impacts, and claims of too many farms in one region resulting in the loss of valuable farmland.
Unlike the UK, official guidelines for large-scale solar farm development in Ireland are lacking, which allegedly hampers objections to proposed projects due to unclear criteria. Government sources admit to anticipated delays in establishing these guidelines, which will form a part of the more comprehensive Coalition policy on land usage, currently being hindered by internal disagreements on contentious topics such as rewetting and afforestation.
The county of Meath in Ireland has now been deemed as a hotspot for discussions related to solar farms. A total of 44 applications for constructing sizeable solar farms were submitted to the Meath County Council, out of which 31 received approval. These are largely concentrated in the towns of Ashbourne, with 16 initiatives, and Ratoath, with six.
Many of these land expanses are leased for a period as long as 40 years by global entities, for instance, Statkraft, the energy power run by the Norwegian State. They pay an annual fee to the owners of the land which is often more financially beneficial than agriculture.
Alan Tobin, a Councillor of the Fine Gael party, is in favour of these projects, expressing that they are advantageous for their respective communities. He notes that approximately 8,000 acres (equivalent to 3,237 hectares) are in the planning stages, a tiny proportion when compared to the entire area of County Meath.
Meanwhile, Bolger has contextualised it nationally, stating that to achieve the 2030 goals for sizable solar farms would require leasing about 25,000 acres, a mere 0.2% of the total 12.8 million acres of farmland in the country.
Both Tobin and Bolger concur that the visual disturbance from these farms can be mitigated through the creation of hedgerows. They believe that converting the land use would foster an increase in biodiversity as well as benefit the environment as it would lessen carbon emissions due to the transition of farmed land back to pasture. Farmers still have the opportunity to employ the land for pastoral activities, like shepherding. Tobin also points out that these major solar operations could provide a significant community payback over time, amounting to millions of euros.
However, not all share the same positive outlook. Gillian Toole, an independent Councillor, has apprehensions about the concentration of solar farms around her hometown of Ratoath and Ashbourne. Lorna Lyons, who operates a farm adjacent to a substantial solar project in Ratoath, shares these concerns. They query why a significant portion of Ireland’s highest-quality farmland in such a confined area has been dedicated to solar farms. As per Lyons, who has challenged several projects, farmland around Ratoath allocated for these projects now exceeds 6,000 acres.
The equivalent of 1,200 Croke Park stadiums, or 6,000 acres of land, potentially being repurposed in this region for solar energy developments, has raised considerable concern about the potential impacts on biodiversity and the visual heritage of the county. Fears have been raised that these changes aren’t good for the environment and could alter the traditional image of lush, green fields and crops that welcomes visitors.
Citing UK guidelines, advocates argue that large solar panel installations are better placed on previously developed or industrial land, or on lower-quality agricultural land, so as to avoid using higher-quality cropland. These advocates suggest none of the proposed projects in the county should proceed under such guidelines, conflicting with the government’s perspective.
The government contends that the scale of solar energy production needed necessitates utilisation of the sunnier, better grid-connected regions of the country. A source also suggested that other areas may be more suitable for wind energy development, advocating a balanced approach.
However, UCC’s Daly argues that the critics aren’t necessarily right, citing the annual reduction of nearly a billion tons of CO2 emissions and the potential positive impacts on biodiversity if the land is no longer used for intense farming. She also highlights the need for thorough research to ensure no negative impacts on the land.
Solar energy is seen as a key part of the renewable energy mix, but estimates suggest it might only account for about 15% of the overall total. Instances like Paul McCue’s may be rare, but that doesn’t mitigate the potential impacts on individuals.
He declared, “What I called home is now just a building to me. It seems as if my home has been stolen away.”
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