Tipperary man and ICMSA President Pat McCormack is calling for changes to the TAMS scheme.
The Targeted Agriculture Modernisation Schemes provides grant aid of 60% up to a maximum of €90,000 via The Solar Capital Investment Scheme. This assists farmers to produce energy to meet their own needs by adding solar capacity to their properties, especially roofs of large buildings. At present farmers cannot get paid for surplus power they send to the national grid. The use of solar panels is intended to help farmers reduce their overall emissions – the sector has been given a target of a 25% mission reduction by 2030. Mr McCormack has joined other farming bodies in seeking to have the ban on the sale of excess supply to the grid removed.
The Department position is that the EU insists that the scheme is intended to enable farmers to produce energy for their own use but no energy can be sold to the grid under the terms of this scheme.
