Tipperary County Council is leading the way with its newest solar power installation. 250 kW have been installed across four sites in the county. The old landfill site at Ballaghveny is now generating clean renewable power, along with two leisure centres in Thurles and Roscrea and the Thurles Municipal District.
In 2014, Tipperary County Council made headlines with Ireland’s largest Solar Photovoltaic Project. The panels were installed on fire stations, libraries, civic offices and leisure centres in a project which increased Ireland’s total PV capacity at the time by 44%. So far into 2020, these PV systems have generated 123,808 kWh, saving €19,190, and reducing carbon emissions by 41 tonnes.
Engineers from Tipperary Energy Agency designed and managed the installation of the project, with the support of Tipperary County Council and Interreg NWE.
The next stage of this development is to ensure that any excess power from this site spilt onto the national grid is monitored by Community Power to ensure minimal wastage.
The buying and selling of small renewables is essential to allow renewable energy projects to work financially and it allows people, communities and local authorities like Tipperary to benefit from investments in renewable energy. This kind of project is what makes Community Power people super excited!
We want to see these collaborations popping up all over the country, and we are working to make it happen!
