Renewable Energy

The Irish Farmers' Association believe that micro power generation, especially wind, solar and anaerobic is a real opportunity for the Country and for Irish Farmers.

Rising fuel and energy costs are putting increasing financial pressure on Irish homes and businesses and this trend is projected to continue into the future. Micro generation has the potential to reduce business costs and the massive annual import bill for fossil fuels.  It can also generate additional income for many thousands of farm and other businesses across rural Ireland.

Our dependence on imported fossil fuels is far too high and puts the Country at significant risk should some political or world event curtail supply or further accelerate fuel costs going forward.  The Government has already committed to 15% of electricity from renewables by 2010 and 33% by 2020.  Micro power can play a very significant role in meeting these demanding targets.

 Ireland must also meet its very aggressive Kyoto targets for our CO₂ emissions.  Our electricity system generates approximately 92% of its power from fossil fuels.  With every 3 kWh of micro generated electricity generated we will reduce our CO₂ emission by 2Kg.

Planning and other restrictions are slowing the roll out of major wind farm and other renewable energy generating projects. The electricity load restrictions and connection difficulties present further difficulties.  With very modest amendments to the current planning exemptions for micro energy, the industry could develop very quickly in Ireland.

New job creation projects are needed in rural Ireland to replace the downturn in the construction sector.  In addition farming needs other ways to generate income and to help it deal will escalated costs of energy and other inputs.  Micro energy will create new jobs in construction and maintance and with the correct Government supports, will provide the opportunity of generating additional income for thousands of farm and other businesses across the country.

A vibrant Irish micro energy industry will be seen as a positive development by Irish people. Given the right conditions farmers and businesses will take up the opportunity to develop a micro energy project. An extensive micro energy industry is politically the correct course of action for the Irish Government to support, environmentally positive and economically sustainable.  The micro energy industry is well developed in almost every other country in Europe, many of whom have less favourable conditions than Ireland, especially in relation to wind.

For these reasons the IFA believe that the time is now right to develop an extensive micro energy industry across rural Ireland.  To do this however, IFA are asking our Government to take action on a number of critical areas immediately so that our country can now move to catch up with the rest of Europe in relation to micro energy development.

Planning Concessions immediately Required

Micro Wind Turbines

Ireland has one of the best wind regimes in the world, and thus we believe special support structures should be in place for Micro generated electricity from this source.

• Allow landowners to put up more that one tower, without requiring further planning permission, with a density of no greater than 1 per hectare with a maximum of 10 wind turbines.
• Allow landowners to put up towers of up to 18m, without planning permission, as long as they are 50m from other dwellings (excluding the farmer's dwelling) and primary and secondary roads.
• Allow landowners to put up towers up 38m, without planning permission, as long as they are 100m from other dwellings (excluding the farmer's dwelling) and primary and secondary roads.

Solar

Allow farmers and businesses to put up at least 35kWp (36 in France) of solar PV on the roof of existing buildings without any planning requirement.  1kWp is about 7m2.   This is totally appropriate for farmers with building and outhouses.  It also removes the risk of developing massive solar farms in Ireland, as the price of the technology drops, as seen in Spain and Germany.

REFIT support

In order to encourage the development of this industry and allow the micro generator to get an acceptable return on the investment, IFA believe that a special REFIT tariff for micro energy must be put in place. 

• A REFIT tariff of 22c per kWh is requested on all energy generated by micro units.  A premium for micro generation already operates in many countries.  For example, in France the REFIT tariff for micro energy is 58c and Spain 44c.  Ireland has already a REFIT of €0.22kWh for large wave and tidal power where all the energy is put into grid.
• To ensure capital investment support from financial institutions, this tariff should be guaranteed for 20 year and be indexed to CPI.

Tax Clarifications/ support required 

Re: claimable VAT on equipment purchase for Farmers not vat registered

IFA believe as the equipment relates to building development on farms that the vat paid is reclaimable for construction of micro energy systems.

Double Capital Tax Allowances on 6000 commercial micro Units over 3 years

In order to get a sustainable micro energy industry established in Ireland, Government support is a must.  To encourage individuals to make the investment in micro energy on farms, IFA is asking that there should be a double capital allowance tax relief up to a maximum investment of €50,000 in micro energy for any individual.

Initially IFA is seeking this taxation relief on 6000 units over 3 years.  The benefit of this tax relief is that it will encourage the establishment of a vibrant micro industry across the country with minimal impact over a number of years on Government expenditure/lost tax income.  Based on a tax writedown of the investment over 7 years, the net cost in lost tax revenue will be less than €10m/year.  In addition the initiative will create at least 75 new jobs immediately in the erection/maintenance and administration of the industry.

After 3 years the industry will be well established and, subject to the experiences of all concerned, the Government may then be in a better position to grant aid for further development on-farms where the tax writedown may not be relevant as an incentive to establish a micro energy unit on-farm. 

Metering

The opportunities for on-farm renewable electricity production should be encouraged and underpinned with the introduction of "smart metering" technologies.  The potential of micro-wind generation will fail unless a metering system is introduced which accounts for all the on-farm electricity produced.

SEI grant aid support for the establishment of demonstration Micro Energy Units across the country

In order to assist with the education and research of micro energy development in Ireland, the IFA is seeking 100% grant aid from monies already allocated for this purpose to establish 8 wind micro energy units, 4 micro solar units and 2 small anaerobic units on farms across the country.  The estimated cost of this development will be €400,000.

As part of this initiative IFA will locate suitable on-farm sites and terms with owners to ensure that farmers and other interested parties will have free access to the data and information generated.  In addition IFA will organize an extensive education campaign for farmer groups through its training wing IFA Skillnets.