Future looks bright for Irish solar power

The future of solar power will be analysed and debated at a major conference in Cork this Friday. Energy Cork will host the event, which is the first major conference on solar power in Ireland.

Michael Quirk, chairman of Energy Cork, said Ireland was poised to play its part in the growth of this source of low-carbon electricity, utilising both building-mounted and ground-mounted technologies.

"To date the ESB have received more than 1GW in Solar PV applications which is incredible. It shows that there is a serious appetite to grow the industry here."

Kieran Lettice, cluster manager of Energy Cork, said Cork was ideally placed to be a hub for this emerging industry and its supply chain

“In the ‘sunny southwest’ a solar panel could produce about 10 per cent more than the most northerly counties.”

Speakers at the conference include Amarenco Solar chief executive John Mullins, ESB solar manager Cera Slevin, BNRG Renewables head of finance Rebecca Kelly, Thomas Döring of Solar Power Europe and Ivan Codd from ESB Networks.

They will address solar power for Ireland in relation to policy, planning, technology, grid access, finance, project development and legal aspects of development.

The recent white paper on energy policy published by the Department of Energy, Communications and Natural Resources acknowledged that solar photovoltaic was part of the solution for the generation of zero-carbon electricity in Ireland.