Sharon Keogan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

Okay. I prepared so much. It is not often I get to support the Green Party colleagues. I want to commend them. This is an important Bill on which the Minister of State can act on very swiftly. I support it as it will allow for an immediate exemption from planning permission for solar panels on schools. It will also provide for the removal of other restrictions on solar panels from the planning regulations for homes and businesses. There is a growing demand for the installation of solar panels on homes, schools, community buildings, farmhouses and businesses across Ireland. There is potential for economic benefit for citizens and communities from the installation of solar panels, including a reduction in electricity bills and income generated from selling surplus renewable electricity. Planning permission is currently required for all solar panel installations on educational and community buildings. As a result, communities and schools have generally not invested in solar panels, given the considerable time, effort and money associated with obtaining planning permissions. This Bill removes that cumbersome task.

Regulations also require planning permission for any solar panel installation on homes or businesses that exceed a small size and area. I support the measures providing for the deletion of that restriction on the area covered by the solar panel on homes, businesses, light industry buildings, public buildings, schools and agricultural buildings. The amendment of Schedule 2 removes the restrictions applicable to light industrial buildings, removing the 50 sq. m threshold. In terms of enabling industry to participate in energy transition, the Bill confirms that the removal of this specific planning restriction applies to larger commercial buildings, which is welcome.

My only cautionary note would be on the disposal of solar panels and how we deal with that. Under EU law, producers are required to ensure their solar panels are recycled properly. In 2018, the first EU solar recycling plant opened in Rousset in France. Globally, the vast majority of dead solar panels end up in landfills where valuable metals and materials inside them are lost. Even when solar panels are recycled, these materials are rarely recovered. Instead, recyclers typically remove the aluminium frame holding the panel together, strip the copper wiring off the back and shred the panel, creating a solar hash that is sold as crushed glass. We need to develop new bespoke solar recycling methods to ensure the silver and silicone as well as the tin and lead in the panels can be reused.

While less than half a million tonnes of solar waste existed globally in 2016, the International Renewable Energy Agency has predicted that by 2030 that figure could rise to 8 million tonnes. By 2050, we could be throwing out 6 million tonnes of dead solar panels every year, nearly as many as we are installing. Some 78 million tonnes of panels will have reached the end of their lifetime. That is a staggering amount, undoubtedly, and it does not even begin to paint the whole picture. Those predictions are premised upon customers keeping their panels in place for the entirety of their 30-year life cycle when we know and the data will tell us that some of them will only last 15 to 20 years. They do not account for the possibility of widespread early replacement as a result of increased efficiency of later models. Last year, the Harvard Business Review publishing model, which predicts up to 50 times more solar waste than predicted by Arena, stated that the solar production boom has left its recycling infrastructure in the dust. It is all very well and good to throw these panels up on every flat surface in the country but if we do not invest in the recycling technology necessary to process them, we are kicking the problem down the road for future generations. Investment in a recycling solution for these panels might be a way forward. That is the issue in respect of the recycling of defunct solar panels which will emerge here in ten to 15 years' time.

Friends of the Earth has obviously been very keen to push the Bill forward. It has done some very good work on the issue. It highlights that the Minister of State and the Minister in the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage unexpectedly raised an entirely new issue in 2020 regarding the potential of glint and glare at airports from solar panels and noted the need for yet further research over the course of this year before any changes regarding permission can be made. This is despite Dublin Airport already having a major solar panel installation in place since 2019. In 2021, the Department noted it intended to produce some form of interim planning regulations for solar panels in quarter 1 of 2021, which would work around potential aviation issues. In March, this was changed to quarter 2 of 2021. In April, the Minister noted revised regulations for solar panel exemptions would be submitted shortly to the Oireachtas for approval. However, in June it was noted that a strategic environmental assessment was now necessary which would take four to five months. I am wondering where we stand with that. This deliberate delay - perhaps it has not been delayed further - or deprioritising of this issue must not be allowed to continue. The Government should introduce an immediate amendment to the planning legislation for solar panels to proceed with only limited updates on these amendments. That is what Friends of the Earth is recommending.

I fully support this legislation. I have an issue with the recycling of solar panels but I am sure the Minister of State is able to address that.