The Irish government announced last week that around 1,600 schools in Ireland can apply to install 16 solar panels on the roofs of school buildings, equivalent to 6 kW of rooftop on grid solar system.
Dubbed the School Solar Initiative, the initiative is led and driven by the Department of Education to meet Ireland's climate targets and help schools reduce their electricity bills, beside rooftop on grid solar system, there is great potential the Initiative will expand the solar power scope to solar pv storage in next phase.
The Irish government says the school's solar panels will be connected to the grid and the electricity generated will be shared with neighbours during school closures, such as school holidays. The first phase of the plan, which will be completed by the end of May, is expected to save the school between €1,200 and €1,600 ($1,311 to $1,748) a year in electricity bills, and next phase is on the planning, it is said solar pv storage and other forms of solar energy would be considered.
The Irish government said it has about 550 domestic and foreign solar installers registered with the National Energy Agency, the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland, and hopes to "encourage more companies to enter the installation market" through the scheme. The Irish government also said that due to its commercial sensitivities, the budget for the School Solar Initiative has not yet been published. The Ministry of Education said the first batch of schools from 11 districts will be invited to apply for the program from today, with the remaining 2,400 schools to receive invitations in a scheduled phase next year.
