Ireland’s solar power revolution is well under way. Despite vocal opposition to individual planning applications, the Solar Ireland Scale of Solar Report expects there will be 3.3 gigawatts (GW) of installed capacity by the end of this year.
In July, solar power reached 9.4 per cent of Ireland’s electricity demand. For a technology that just a couple of decades ago was considered unsuitable for Ireland, this is a remarkable transformation.
Utility-scale solar projects can range from relatively small schemes covering a few hectares or very large installations such as the Gallanstown solar farm in Co Meath, which covers 500 acres and is capable of generating 198 MWp (megawatt-peak) of power, the equivalent power demand of 40,000 homes.
Looking at the list of solar farm projects that are either connected or contracted, one aspect stands out. In most instances energy utility companies are the project developers, not farmers. That applies even when the panels are going on farmland. Local communities fear that land ownership is shifting away from traditional farmers to foreign firms and pension funds.
While energy co-operatives that involve groups of landowners and investors coming together are commonplace across Europe, this model is not supported in any meaningful way here in Ireland, and banks are generally reluctant to lend to entities that have little prior experience.
Typically farmers lease land to project developers for a period of about 30 years, at roughly €1,100-€1,300 per acre. While farmers can get generous grants to install solar power equipment on farm buildings under the Targeted Agricultural Modernisation Scheme, those projects are not to allowed export to the grid.
While the solar “farms” are on land that is likely to have previously been farmland, there are no statistics capturing county-level land-use changes as a result of solar PV.
Depending on the type of panels and array used, in theory solar panels can be compatible with many different forms of food production and grazing. Such designs are increasingly common across Europe, but there are no dedicated agri-solar projects in Ireland. Neither Renewable Electricity Support Scheme auctions nor county development plans have regulatory or zoning frameworks to facilitate them.
The potential for synergies between energy and food production or other land uses are under-exploited, and this adds to the perception of land being taken out of production.
The Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland has a detailed map of all solar utility projects that are connected or contracted. There is a pervasive view that solar farms are “unfairly” concentrated in certain parts of the country. Many opponents appear to see solar farms as a distinct loss rather than a gain to their rural environment, forgetting that property rights trump scenery and views most of the time. In any case, one-off housing is far more damaging to the environment across a range of criteria.
Yet to meet the national target of 8GW of solar capacity by 2030, the total physical land area required for ground-mounted utility-scale systems would account for just 0.26 per cent of all agricultural land in the State, according to the Minister for Climate, Energy and the Environment Darragh O’Brien. This doesn’t sound like a Highland Clearance, yet such is the rhetoric often deployed on social media by objectors.
We are so conditioned to the mono-landscape of rye grass and livestock that it is easy to forget that the Irish agricultural landscape is a highly modified, polluting and carbon intensive form of food production.
While many objectors to solar farms fear the loss of “prime” agricultural land, in fact 90 per cent of Irish meat and dairy produce is exported and therefore not contributing to our food security.
Dairy intensification is resulting in deteriorating water quality in many areas of the south and southeast, so actually taking land out of production could be a net environmental and social benefit.
Nearly 73 per cent of Ireland’s total energy requirement comes from imported fossil fuels. But the impacts of this dependency – on the local environment where fossil fuels are burned, the global climate and even on energy bills – are largely hidden from view. By contrast, solar panels by their nature are highly visible and a challenge our intuition of what a “normal” countryside should look like.
The potential income streams from leasing land may be attractive to farmers. But there are catches. They may discover additional tax liabilities and challenges with succession. One industry insider admitted to me that farmers only receive 1 per cent of the value of the electricity generated.
In Germany and France, it is much more common for landowners either to co-own or at least to have a higher equity stake in renewable energy projects alongside the utility companies providing the upfront capital.
And that’s where community ownership and private savings have a crucial – largely untapped – role to play.
© 2026 The Irish Times DAC

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