Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for raising this matter. While overall national energy policy formation is the direct responsibility of the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications, my Department engages closely with it on energy-related matters from an agricultural perspective as well as with a wide range of industry and other stakeholder groupings.

The importance of renewable energy generation, particularly from microgeneration, in mitigating carbon emissions has been reflected in the inclusion of targets for this area in the recently released Climate Action Plan 2021, Securing Our Future. In December 2021, the microgeneration support scheme, MSS, was launched. It supports the deployment of an expected 380 MW of new micro power - that is, up to 50 kW - through rooftop and ground-mounted solar photovoltaic cells, PV. Landowners and farmers, in particular, will be able to benefit from the move to renewables, as set out under Food Vision 2030, which recognises that the agricultural sector has a key role to play in helping Ireland meet its renewable energy targets.

To help encourage on-farm renewable technology uptake and usage further, grant aid is provided through the targeted agricultural modernisation scheme, TAMS, to assist farmers in maximising their contribution to the production of renewable energy through the installation of solar PV technology along with battery storage on farms. The solar PV systems grant aided under TAMS include solar PV panels and solar PV rechargeable batteries as well as solar panels for water heating under the pigs and poultry scheme.

Applications under TAMS for solar investments are being received on an ongoing basis. A total of 126 applications have received payment for solar investments to date. The grant aid under the scheme is available at the standard rate of 40%, with a higher grant rate of 60% available to qualified young farmers. I am proposing that support for renewable energy investments will continue under the new capital investment scheme as part of the CAP strategic plan submitted to the European Commission for approval last December.

All these schemes encourage the installation of solar panels on farms. This is an area of real and genuine potential to help farmers generate an income while continuing to play a leadership role in meeting our climate ambitions.

See this speech in context