AIP is working across Ireland to develop large-scale solar farms, generate clean renewable energy and provide long-term additional incomes for farm families
Solar energy: a bright future
AIP is working across Ireland to develop large-scale solar farms. Although no solar farm has been built in the Republic of Ireland to-date, a number have been built in Northern Ireland where Government supports have existed. Advances in solar panel technology have already made solar energy the dominant renewable technology in some parts of the world and falling costs will see solar farms become commonplace in Ireland.
Solar energy is set to play an important part in Ireland’s energy mix over the next decade, with the Government’s climate action plan calling for up to 1,500MW of large-scale solar energy to be installed by 2030.
Partnering with landowners
Once we identify an optimum site for a solar farm, AIP partners with landowners who are happy to accommodate the project on their lands to progress the project. Landowners know their land better than anyone and we value their input from the earliest stages. Our staff and agents meet landowners to outline the potential of their land, explain the project development process and take feedback from the landowners.
Large-scale solar farms will be new features in the Irish countryside when they are built in the coming years. Like with anything new, it is understandable landowners and neighbours will have questions and queries about what a solar farm would mean for them. We welcome these questions as they give us a chance to build a relationship and trust with our long term partners.
Long-term income for farm families
Solar energy has the potential to become an important income stream for Irish farm families and landowners. It offers a long-term, guaranteed income stream, allowing farmers to work less in their later years but still enjoy the same or a higher level of income they had been used to. The additional income from an AIP solar farm project gives farmers and landowners an opportunity to better utilise their land and farm another type of produce, solar energy!
Co-designing projects
AIP seeks to involve multiple landowners in our projects to be able to assemble the amount of land needed for our projects. We pride ourselves on working with our partner landowners to co-design the solar farm to take their individual needs into account. While it will be in everyone’s interest to maximise the solar energy potential of a site, individual landowner’s requirements and preferences are always factored in to only include whatever lands they are happy to include and locate roadways and access points where landowners are agreeable. We keep our partner landowners involved at every stage of the design process, walking the land with them whenever necessary before picking the preferred locations and routes for the different parts of the solar farm.
Supporting landowners at every step
AIP uses expert consultants to identify optimum solar farm sites, carry out all the environmental surveys and assessments required and eventually secure planning permission. Developing a solar farm can take a few years from site identification until the project is built and generating electricity. We support landowners every step of the way and engage with local neighbours and communities when the details of a project begin to firm up.
What makes up a solar farm?
A solar farm has a number of important parts, all of which are needed to make the project work. They include:
Solar panels
Solar panels are rectangular modules that convert the sun’s light into electrical energy. A standard solar panel consists of a layer of silicon cells, a metal frame, a glass casing and wiring to allow current to flow from the silicon cells.
Silicon is a material with conductive properties that allow it to absorb and convert sunlight into electricity. When light interacts with a silicon cell, it causes electrons to be set into motion, which initiates a flow of electric current. This is known as the “photovoltaic effect,” and it describes the general functionality of solar panel technology.
Solar arrays
Solar arrays are collections of solar panels mounted on frames that point in a southerly direction to catch as much sun as possible. The frames, which hold 3-4 panels and can be tens or hundreds of metres in length, are spaced apart to ensure one doesn’t cast a shadow on another. The frames are secured in the ground using mini-piles or ground screws, making their installation quick without needing large-scale groundworks or heavy machinery.
Inverters
Inverters convert the alternating current (AC) generated by the solar panels into direct current (DC) which is needed for export to the national electricity grid. Smaller inverters can be mounted behind the panels on the frames, or larger inverters can spaced throughout the solar farm collecting the power from multiple arrays.
Electricity substation
The electricity substation is where all the cables carrying electricity generated by solar panels and are run back to and the electricity transformed to a higher voltage before being transmitted off-site and on to the national electricity grid.
Battery storage
Battery storage units allow excess solar energy generated by the solar farm to be stored when it might not be needed by the national grid. It can then be released later when it is needed. Battery storage units are like shipping containers, with all the battery and electrical parts safely secured inside the container.
Perimeter fencing
Perimeter fencing is needed to secure the site and protect the solar panels from damage. Farming landowners who want to continue to graze the lands around and under the solar arrays will be provided access to all fences areas and will be able to access them whenever they want. The perimeter fencing is usually planted also, to screen the solar panels from view.
What are the steps in developing a solar farm?
1. Site identification
Site identification is the process we go through to find optimum sites for solar farms. Many different factors go into deciding which sites can potentially make a good solar farm site. AIP’s solar farms are large and so need a lot of land. The most suitable land has to be away from nature protection areas and archaeological sites, ideally with some visual screening. The optimum sites must also be close enough to a part of the national electricity grid that has the capacity to take the electricity that the wind farm would generate.
2. Land agreements
Land agreements are the option and lease contracts we enter into with landowners who want to partner with AIP to make their land available for a solar farm. After we explain how and why we have identified their lands as having potential, we spend time getting to know the owners of the land and their neighbours and give everyone a chance to ask whatever questions they might have. AIP encourage every landowner to seek independent legal advice and make a contribution towards the cost of this.
3. Environmental surveys
Environmental surveys must take place before submitting a planning permission application, and include ecological, archaeological, hydrological and other surveys along with other types of assessments required to prepare an environmental report that is submitted along with the planning application.
4. Community consultation
Community consultation is a very important stage as it allows us share with the local community, details of where the proposed project will be located and what it might consist of. We try to engage with the local community at the earliest opportunity, but only when we know a sufficient amount ourselves about the proposed project to make that engagement and consultation meaningful and worthwhile.
5. Planning
Planning is the process where we submit a formal planning permission application for the proposed solar farm. It gives every member of the public an opportunity to formally comment on the project before the local Planning Authority or An Bord Pleanála finally make a decision on whether the project should proceed or not.
6. Grid connection
A grid connection is vital to export electricity from a solar farm to the national grid and an application to connect to the grid and eventually export electricity can only be applied for after planning permission has been granted. Grid connections will be allocated at regular intervals over the coming years, and once our application is successful, we have the right to “plug in” our project to the national grid and begin to export power.
7. Community gain
Community gain is the way the benefits of the project get divided amongst near neighbours and the local community and usually starts before construction starts, and continues throughout the life of the wind farm. AIP is committed to tailoring its community gain schemes to each individual community and recognises that no two communities are the same. We believe the best community gain schemes are those that the local community themselves help design and we try to involve the community in this through the pre-construction stages of every project.
8. Construction
Construction is generally relatively quick for a solar farm, usually lasting a few months after a market for the project’s electricity has been secured. It is AIP policy to use as much local labour and machinery and local contractors in the construction of its projects, whenever possible. Although all solar panels are imported into Ireland, it is expected most of the construction will be carried out by Irish men and women and that Irish firms that will come to specialise in solar farm construction.
9. Operation
The solar farm begins operating when the project has been built and fully commissioned and is exporting clean, green electricity to the national grid. Solar farms are usually expect to remain operating and in place for 25-30 years with the recently advances in technology and engineering of the solar panels.