Ireland

Ireland appears ready to embrace PV after years of failed announcements. Globaldata predicts the EU member state will deploy around 1.3 GW of solar by 2030, with renewables potentially meeting 65% of electricity demand. Furthermore, Irish Water has announced it wants to deploy solar at its water treatment plants.

The wind power specialist has started prequalifying EPCs for the ground-mounted solar plant, which will be built near Timahoe North, County Kildare.

The e-commerce group will invest an undisclosed sum in a 45 MW solar array in the U.S. state of Virginia. It also plans to invest in a 23.2 MW wind farm in Ireland.

The head of Mercom Capital says solar has a long way to go before it can stand without policy support. Effective grid parity will only be achieved when the cost of PV electricity factors in the expense of grid upgrades and the storage systems its intermittent nature requires, says Raj Prabhu.

With the Netherlands receiving more than €21 billion worth of orders after launching a ‘€4-6 billion’ exercise last month, Irish utility the ESB is hoping to ride the wave of investors subscribing to ethical schemes.

BloombergNEF figures show financial vehicles linked to environmental and/or social benefits amounted to $247bn worldwide in 2018. The US led the way, almost entirely because state-backed mortgage provider Fannie Mae issued $19.8bn worth of green home loans.

Twelve signatories from the energy and consumer goods industry have sent an open letter to the EU and U.K., calling for continued cooperation after Brexit to protect both consumer, and business, interests. The document highlights the importance of tariff-free electricity trading as intermittent renewable energy will require a higher degree of market integration.

The first round of Ireland’s newly introduced Enduring Connection Policy – 1 (ECP-1), introduced at the beginning of the year, has resulted in considerable success for solar PV and battery storage, with the technologies clearly outcompeting various forms of gas-fired generation, biomass, and wind energy.

The program will be be grant aided, and will provide funds mainly for self-consumption projects. At a later stage, the scheme may also offer incentives for home battery storage.

ESB and Oersted UK independently announced this week they have acquired storage assets to deliver ancillary services to the UK grid operator.