The Irish government announced last week that about 1,600 schools in Ireland can apply from today to install 16 solar panels on the roofs of school buildings, equivalent to 6 kW of solar rooftop power stations.

The initiative, called Solar in Schools, is spearheaded and driven by the Department of Education and aims to enable Ireland to meet its climate targets and help schools reduce their electricity bills.

According to the Irish government, the school panels will be connected to the electricity grid, and the electricity generated will be shared with neighbors during school holidays and other closed periods.

The first phase of the scheme, due to be completed by the end of May, is expected to save the school €1,200 to €1,600 ($1,311 to $1,748) a year in electricity bills.

The Irish government said there were about 550 domestic and international solar installers registered with the national energy agency, the Sustainable energy Authority of Ireland, and that it hoped the scheme would "encourage more companies to enter the installation market".

The Irish government also said that due to its commercial sensitivity, the budget for the Campus Solar Project has not been announced at this time. The first batch of schools from 11 districts will be invited to apply for the scheme from today, with the remaining 2,400 schools to be invited at a scheduled stage next year, the ministry said.

"The phased implementation of the program will ensure that the work of solar PV contractors is managed in an orderly and steady manner," the announcement said. Irish state schools are required to provide three installation quotes, and the government will choose one to bear the cost. Meanwhile, earlier this month, the Irish government published the Irish Energy Security Report 2030. Ireland is on track to achieve 8 GW of installed solar capacity by 2030. Previously, Conall Bolger, chief executive of the Irish Solar Energy Association (ISEA), publicly criticised the government's renewable electricity support scheme to Photovoltaic magazine, saying its project attrition rate was "high".

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