A total of 27 wind and solar farm projects have secured 15-year Government support under the fourth round of the Renewable Electricity Support Scheme (RESS 4).

The provisional results indicate that out of the 43 projects eligible to participate in the auction, 16 were not successful.

Four wind farms, equating to 374 MW, and 23 solar farms, equating to 960 MW, were successful. These projects will produce enough electricity to power up to half a million homes.

Securing support under the scheme means that these projects will likely be built.

Locations

The successful solar farms are mostly spread across the east and south, while the wind farms are located in Clare, Tipperary, Kilkenny, and Donegal.

As with previous RESS auctions, funding is only provided to wind and solar farms when market prices are low; generators are required to repay money to electricity customers when market prices are high.

Conall Bolger, CEO of Irish Solar Energy Association, said that the four RESS auctions have allocated 3.7 GW of solar capacity, which equates to 69% of the Government’s 2030 utility-scale solar target.

Noel Cunniffe, CEO of Wind Energy Ireland, criticised the planning process, however, as planning is needed to compete in RESS.