Cork's Musgrave Park to install hundreds of solar panels in bid to cut carbon footprint

As well as reducing the stadium’s energy consumption, slashing its energy costs and off-setting its carbon footprint, Munster Rugby will be able to sell any excess electricity generated back to the grid through its sustainability partner, Pinergy, which will buy the electricity at 25c per kilowatt hour.

Pinergy already supplies 100% renewable energy to Munster’s Thomond Park in Limerick and Musgrave Park, and it has worked on LED retrofitting and renewable heating solutions at Thomond Park before.

But under the terms of a 10-year partnership, it is now funding the installation of a 400 kw peak solar installation on the roofs of both stands at Munster Rugby’s Cork headquarters.

Cork Rugby Stadium Designated Activity Company applied to Cork City Council earlier this year for permission to install 644 solar panels on the stadium roofs — 480 on the main stand, which will face west, and 164 on the opposite stand.

The stadium is 2km west of the city centre. Its western stand is about three storeys high, with the roof height at 10m, rising a further 1.9m to the peak. The eastern stand is about two storeys high, with the roof about 6m high.

Documents on the planning file say the layout of the panels has been designed to maximise solar gain.

“The installation of photovoltaic panels will derive clean energy from the Sun and will help reduce the client’s dependence on fossil fuels, thus reducing their carbon footprint,” it says.

Consultants also had to prepare a special glint and glare report to prove the array of panels would not pose a distraction to nearby properties, or to road users, and would not pose a hazardous distraction to pilots on final approach to or departing from Cork Airport, about 4km to the south.

In all cases, it was deemed the risk was negligible and no mitigation was considered necessary.

Planners granted permission for the scheme with a number of routine conditions attached.

While some preliminary work has been done on site, the panels themselves are expected to be installed early in the new year.

Michael Norton, head of commercial sales with Pinergy Solar Electric, said they have worked on a number of large commercial solar panel installations before, including with the Defence Forces, with some retail chains and with car dealerships.

But he said he believed this was the largest installation of its kind at an Irish sports stadium and could inspire other such projects.

“Homes which install solar panels can achieve average savings in their electricity bills of 30% to 50% while business can achieve average savings of between 20% to 40%, depending on the space available for the solar panels. Some businesses can obviously achieve higher savings,” he said.

Munster Rugby has previously pledged to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 50% by 2030 and reach net zero by 2040.