The UK's "thousand School Photovoltaic Plan" Was Officially Launched

The Irish government announced that the first batch of schools from 11 regions in Ireland, about 1,600 schools were invited to apply for the program from yesterday, can apply for the installation of 16 solar modules through the federal government's funding program, equivalent to 6kw solar rooftop power stations. The remaining 2,400 schools will be invited in a scheduled phase next year.

The Department of Education is spearheading the initiative, known as the Photovoltaic in Schools Initiative, which aims to enable Ireland to meet its climate targets and help schools reduce their electricity bills. The Irish government said that solar panels in schools will be connected to the Internet, and the electricity generated can be shared with neighbors during school holidays and other closed schools.

Due to its commercial sensitivity, the budget for the PV in Schools Program has not yet been announced. The first phase of the scheme, due to be completed by the end of May, is expected to save the school between £1,200 and £1,600 ($1,311 - $1,748) a year in electricity bills. The announcement said that the phased implementation of the plan will ensure that the work of solar photovoltaic contractors is managed in an orderly and steady manner. The government will bear the cost and will choose one of three installation offers from Irish state schools.

The Irish government says there are about 550 domestic and foreign solar installers registered with the national energy agency, the Sustainable energy Authority of Ireland. It is hoped that through this program, more companies will be encouraged to enter the installation market.

Meanwhile, earlier this month, the Irish government published the Irish Energy Security Report 2030. Ireland is on track to achieve 8GW of installed solar capacity by 2030. Previously, Conall Bolger, chief executive of the Irish Solar Energy Association (ISEA), has publicly criticised the government's renewable electricity support scheme for its high project attrition rate.

The International Renewable Energy Agency said that according to its latest assessment, Ireland had 135MW of installed solar capacity at the end of last year. But according to a separate report by ISEA, Ireland's 59,888 generators had deployed around 680MW of solar as of July 2023, with most of that capacity coming from seven large power plants of 5MW or more, totalling 349MW.