Tommy Broughan (Dublin Bay North, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The number of proposals is extraordinary. It is welcome that the Minister and his colleague, the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government will work closely together on the planning front. When examining some of the applications, we were all struck by how one needed to cover the space of a GAA pitch plus a rugby or soccer pitch under an array just to generate 1 MW. Some 25 acres would be required to generate 5 MW. This means that there is a considerable issue regarding land use. Other issues have arisen during planning processes such as, for example, the impact on landscapes, the question of electromagnetic fields, inverters and transformers and the noise created by some of the systems that have to be used. That there have been so many applications is welcome, but the situation needs to be kept under observation.

Regarding the 2030 targets, does the Minister believe that microgeneration and solar arrays will play a fundamental role in supplying a more sustainable base load?

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