Unlocking Community Power: How Ireland’s Renewable Energy Support Scheme is Paving the Way for a Greener Future

Renewable Energy Support Scheme?? As part of the Climate Action Plan, Ireland has set a target of 80% renewable electricity generation by 2030.?Community based renewable energy projects have been identified as a key action to help reach this goal, with a target of at least 500 MW of community-based renewable energy generation set in the most recent iteration of the Climate Action Plan. In?2018, the Irish Government introduced the Renewable Energy Support Scheme (RESS) to?promote investment in renewable energy generation in Ireland.?The primary aims of RESS are to increase community ownership of renewable energy technology and?serve as?a pathway to meet the countries’ renewable energy target.??

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Community Enabling Framework?? One of the key components of the RESS is?a?Community Enabling Framework?to support and encourage the development of a community electricity generation sector.?The framework aims to?offer?end-to-end support to create a community energy sector in Ireland that can deliver impactful renewable energy generation projects throughout the country. SEAI?are the?lead?organisation?for this framework, who?provide support through?a number of?ways including:??

• Provision of a ‘Community Energy Resource Toolkit’. This showcases several practical guides across several different areas such as planning, grid connection technology strategy, governance options and many more.? This helps communities decide if a grid scale community energy generation is right for them.?

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• If the community group feels it’s right for them, they can apply to SEAI to get matched with a ‘Trusted Advisor’ who will provide?specialist advice on developing a renewable energy project.??

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• At the feasibility stage the SEAI appointed Trusted Advisor carries out an initial feasibility study on the proposed project. If the project is successful in the initial feasibility study, it will progress to a high-level feasibility study and finally a detailed feasibility study.?

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• If a project is deemed to be viable after the detailed feasibility study, community groups are eligible to avail of SEAI grants up to €180,000. Grants are available to support project design and planning, grid connection, submission costs and advice for project financing.?

Plan Energy Energy were appointed by SEAI as a Trusted Advisor in 2022 and since then have guided close to a dozen community groups through their development journey, from site identification, feasibility studies, designing a project, financial modelling and making grid and planning applications. ? ? ? The ultimate aim from this work is to identify those community projects that have a real chance of one day becoming operational and ensuring that they have the financial backing needed to complete a planning application and begin work on their project.?

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As part of Plan Energy 's role as a Trusted Advisor, members of the company recently undertook a site visit to Milltown, Co. Kerry, in order to assess the suitability of the site for a 5-Megawatt Maximum Export Capacity installation.?

The primary purpose of the site visit which are carried out on all community projects that reach the High-Level Feasibility stage is to gather essential information and assess the suitability of the location for solar panel installation.

This included:?

• Determining whether the site was suitable for Solar PV installation based on factors such as shading and terrain?
• Identification of any potential obstructions or shading sources that could affect the performance of solar panels throughout the day and year. This may include nearby buildings, trees, or other structures.?
• Assessing if there are any potential environmental or planning constraints that may impede on project development that are not identified during a desktop review.??
• Reviewing the site's accessibility for equipment and personnel during construction, operation, and maintenance phases.??
• Engaging with the community group and other stakeholders to address concerns and build support for the project?

The observations from the site visit helped supplement the detailed analysis of environmental, planning and solar resource considerations that were undertaken inhouse for the High-Level Feasibility Assessment. Following approval from SEAI, the final stage of this process is the Detailed Feasibility study which will focus on the commercial viability of the project and the finance the community group will need to get it off the ground. If following the detailed feasibility study it is deemed that the project is both commercially and technically viable, the community group will be eligible for grants under the Community Enabling Framework.?

? The total grant available is €180,000 or 80% of eligible costs (whichever is the lesser). This is broken up into three stages and projects may enter any of the stages depending on their progress.? ?

If you are part of, or know someone who is part of a community group that are interested in the development of a community renewable energy project, they should contact SEAI by emailing [email protected] or completing the Enabling Supports Application form available on the SEAI website (www.seai.ie/ community-energy/ress/enabling-framework/).?

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