Solar and Ireland

Solar Performance Monitor for Ireland for Year 2003/2004

The table shows, on a monthly basis, the amount of solar radiation per square meter (orange) and the converted energy by the solar panel (blue) in kWh.

Economical Benefits of Solar

The amount of daily energy used to produce hot water (used for cooking, cleaning, baths, showers etc) for each person in Ireland is 2-4 kilowatts per hour (kWh).The cost to produce this hot water may be as high as 12.56 cents per kWh, especially if using an electric immersion heater and applying the standard domestic ESB tariff, including VAT. For a 4-member family, (4 persons x 4 kWh x 12.56 cents) the cost of producing this energy could be more than €2 per day, or more than €730 for each  year. Using active solar thermal energy, we can sensibly reduce these costs by up to 50%, while helping the environment.

Environmental Benefits of Solar

Using the example above, this could mean an annual saving of about €365, a reduction of up to 2920 kWh of fossil-fuel derived energy, and a reduction of up to 2.26 tonnes of CO² (i.e. 1 unit of electricity causes the emission of .7758 kg of CO²).

To put this CO² saving into context, the Irish Government's 'National Climate Change Strategy - October 2002' has an indicative CO² reduction for the built environment and residential of .9 Million Tonnes (Mt) or 900,000 Tonnes (t) of CO².

Using our CO² savings figure of 2.26 tonnes per dwelling, if 400,000 Irish dwellings had solar thermal panels installed, this target would be reached without any other additional measures. At 1.5 m² of solar panel per person, an average dwelling would require 1.5 x 4 m² of panel or 6 m² in total. 400,000 dwellings x 6 m² would equate to 2.4 million m² of solar panels.

2003 figures for Austria were 2.15 million, Greece was 2.19 million and Germany was 4.26 million m² of active solar thermal panels installed. The figure for Ireland was 3,335 m².

Each square metre (m²) of Irish land receives an average of around 3 kWh (kilowatt hours) per day of energy from the sun throughout the year; obviously, with higher values during summer or on sunny days, and lower values in winter or on cloudy days.

The values shown in orange correspond to the daily SOLAR RADIATION received per 1m2, measured in kWh at a given location (e.g. Waterford) during a specific month (e.g. January)

Not all the solar radiation that is received can be converted into hot water. The solar panels are more efficient when the solar radiation is higher. The values shown in blue correspond to the daily SOLAR ENERGY COLLECTED by 1 mv of solar panel, measured in kWh.

If we multiply the values of the blue bar by the total area of solar panels installed, it gives the total energy collected daily by the solar panels, which can be used to heat water.

With an installation of between 4 and 6 square metres of solar panels in your home, we will get around 50% of all the yearly energy a family uses to heat water.

(Source: ISEA)