{"id":360651,"date":"2026-03-23T09:07:08","date_gmt":"2026-03-23T09:07:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/360651\/"},"modified":"2026-03-23T09:07:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-23T09:07:08","slug":"statkraft-activates-two-major-solar-projects-in-ireland","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/360651\/","title":{"rendered":"Statkraft activates two major solar projects in Ireland"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/sustainabilityonline.net\/tag\/statkraft\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" title=\"\">Statkraft<\/a> has activated two solar projects in <a href=\"https:\/\/sustainabilityonline.net\/tag\/ireland\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" title=\"\">Ireland<\/a>, at Clonfad and Irishtown, taking its total installed solar capacity in the country to over 560MW.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This represents just over 40% of the total installed utility-scale solar in Ireland, of around 1.3GW.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The 174MW project in Clonfad, <a href=\"https:\/\/sustainabilityonline.net\/tag\/westmeath\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" title=\"\">Westmeath<\/a>. and the 32MW project in Irishtown, <a href=\"https:\/\/sustainabilityonline.net\/tag\/dublin\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" title=\"\">Dublin,<\/a> were both energised in recent weeks, and represent \u2018another step in strengthening Ireland\u2019s energy security\u2019 at a time of energy price volatility, according to the firm.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018A special moment\u2019<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThis is a special moment for Statkraft in Ireland, which has been developing and building renewable energy at pace since we came into the country,\u201d commented Kevin O\u2019Donovan, Statkraft Ireland MD. \u201cThe energisation of Clonfad and Irishtown means we have now installed 560MW of solar energy, all contributing to our electricity grid.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">O\u2019Donovan added that <a href=\"https:\/\/sustainabilityonline.net\/tag\/solar\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" title=\"\">solar<\/a> power, alongside wind energy, can help reduce reliance on imported fossil fuels, especially gas, which often determines wholesale electricity prices.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cA stable energy source means stable prices \u2013 and this is what solar, and wind energy brings to Irish consumers. By pairing this with increased storage and grid stability projects, it reduces our dependence on imported gas.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/sustainabilityonline.net\/tag\/eirgrid\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" title=\"\">EirGrid<\/a>, which operates Ireland\u2019s power grid, has previously speculated that at least 80% of the electricity in Ireland could in time come from renewables, provided there is sufficient investment in infrastructure and storage, and a widespread electrification rollout.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWith more renewables, we use far less gas, resulting in gas setting the wholesale price less often,\u201d O\u2019Donovan added.<\/p>\n<p>Solar deployment<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Elsewhere, Ronan Power, the chief executive of Solar Ireland, also welcomed the project, saying that it underlines the increasing scale and pace of solar deployment.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cLarge projects like Clonfad and Irishtown are helping bring more clean, home-grown electricity onto the grid at a time when energy security and affordability are key priorities,\u201d he commented. \u201cTo maintain this momentum, it will be important that policy, grid investment, and planning frameworks continue to support the rapid deployment of solar and other renewables across the country.\u201d Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/www.statkraft.ie\/news\/2026\/statkraft-delivers-40-of-total-installed-utility-scale-solar-in-ireland-with-the-energisation-of-two-further-solar-projects\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" title=\"\">here<\/a>. <\/p>\n<p>Like this:<\/p>\n<p>Like Loading&#8230;<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"sd-link-color\"\/><\/p>\n<p>\n\tRelated<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Statkraft has activated two solar projects in Ireland, at Clonfad and Irishtown, taking its total installed solar capacity&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":360652,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[61,60,43,16389],"class_list":["post-360651","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-news","tag-renewables"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/360651","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=360651"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/360651\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/360652"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=360651"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=360651"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=360651"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}