The Irish government recently announced that as many as 1,600 schools in Ireland can apply for installing 6kw solar energy systems on the roofs of school buildings through the federal funding scheme from today. The initiative, called "Campus Solar Plan", is led and promoted by the Ministry of Education. It aims to help Ireland achieve its climate goals and help schools reduce their electricity bills.
According to the Irish government, the school's panels will be integrated into the power grid, and the power generated by them can be shared with neighbors during school holidays and other periods of school closure.
The first phase of the project will be completed by the end of May, and it is estimated that the school will save 1,200 to 1,600 euros (1,311 to 1,748 dollars) in electricity bills every year.
According to the Irish government, there are about 550 domestic and foreign solar installers registered with the national energy agency, the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland, hoping to "encourage more companies to enter the installation market" through the plan.
The Irish government also said that due to its commercial sensitivity, the budget of the "Campus Solar Project" has not yet been announced. According to the Ministry of Education, the first batch of schools from 11 regions will be invited to apply for the program from today, and the remaining 2,400 schools will receive invitations at the scheduled stage next year.
The announcement said: "The phased implementation of the plan will ensure the orderly and steady work management of solar photovoltaic contractors." Irish public schools need to provide three installation quotations, and the government will choose one of them to bear the cost. At the same time, earlier this month, the Irish government released the Irish Energy Security Report 2030. It is pointed out that Ireland is expected to realize the installed solar energy capacity of 8 GW by 2030. Previously, Conall Bolger, CEO of the Irish Solar Energy Association (ISEA), publicly criticized the government's renewable power support plan to Photovoltaic magazine, saying that its project wastage rate was "very high".
The International Renewable Energy Agency said that according to its latest assessment, Ireland's installed solar energy capacity reached 135 MW at the end of last year. However, according to another report of ISEA, as of July 2023, 59,888 generators in Ireland have deployed about 680 MW of solar energy. According to the group, most of the production capacity comes from seven large power plants with a total power generation capacity of 349 MW.