The Micro-Renewable Energy Federation (MREF) has slammed the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine for moving to exclude domestic dwellings from the solar PV measure under the Targeted Agricultural Modernisation Scheme (TAMS).

The MREF claimed that the move "effectively rules out almost all" drystock and tillage farmers from solar PV grants under TAMS.

An official from the department indicated last week that domestic dwellings would be excluded from the Solar Capital Investment Scheme under TAMS for tranche 11 of the scheme, which closed on March 13.

Speaking at a meeting of the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture and Food last Wednesday (March 18), department assistant secretary Paul Savage said: "The removal of domestic dwellings from the Solar Capital Investment Scheme in tranche 11 will enable a focus on supplying solar panels for on-farm demand and should enable a higher percentage of applications to be selected for approval."

Savage added that farmers wishing to install solar panels for domestic use may apply for support from the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI).

The move to remove domestic dwellings from consideration in the TAMS solar scheme has prompted sharp criticism from MREF chairperson Ciaran Kells.

Kells told Agriland: "The farm home would account for up to 70% of the electricity use on many drystock farms so removing the farm house from eligibility effectively makes a TAMS grant application completely unviable for most drystock and tillage farmers."

He called on the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Martin Heydon to bring clarity to the process for farmers.

According to Kells, the government should either "properly fund" the solar PV grant for TAMS, or "do the decent thing", which he claimed would be to remove solar PV supports from TAMS altogether.

The MREF chairperson said this would allow farmers to focus on other SEAI or tax supports available for renewable energy investments.

"What is happening now is that the department is encouraging farmers to apply for a solar PV grant and then rejecting 90% of the applications they receive," Kells said.

"This is an insult to the efforts and costs incurred by the individual farmers and their micro-generation systems designers and installers to progress a solar PV project," he added.

Kells remarked: "Either the minister and the department decide to fund the solar PV TAMS grants for all applicants, or they should do the decent thing and remove it completely from TAMS until monies are available to fund it properly."